Jaguar’s Ian Callum awarded the Minerva Medal

Jaguar has always claimed that a car is the closest thing you can create to something that is alive. The company’s Director of Design, Ian Callum, sure has lived by this philosophy and a proof of that would be the stunning-looking F-Type. As a result of which, Mr Callum was honoured by the Chartered Society of Designers with the prestigious Minerva Medal for his outstanding contribution to automotive design. 

The Minerva Medal is the highest accolade given by the Society and was presented by the Society's Patron, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at the Minerva Dinner in St James's Palace in London. The Minerva Medal is an impromptu award, given only when a recipient is identified as being worthy of the recognition

Back in 2013, the Jaguar F-Type was named the World Car Design of the Year.  The car achieved this feat after trumping 43 cars that were considered for the award. The selection being reduced to a shortlist by an advisory panel of design experts before final consideration by the 66 World Car of the Year jury members. 

Mr Callum is the first car designer to be awarded the Minerva Medal since Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro in 1981. He is also known for his work at Ford, Aston Martin and for bringing in a new design philosophy to Jaguar over the past 15 years.

Previous winners include British architect Lord Rogers of Riverside, fashion designer Mary Quant and Italian designer Alberto Alessi. 

So now whenever you are driving your Jaguar down the road and see people do the 360 turn, you know what they are looking at and you know whom to thank for that.