Callum promotes new head of design
Callum design has promoted creative lead Aleck Jones to head of design
Design house Callum has promoted from within to appoint a new head of design. Aleck Jones joined in 2019 and had previously been the creative lead. Primarily a digital designer – drawing on his time at JLR as an Alias designer – he told Car Design News how the team’s “digitally-led design ethos” has allowed them to work with an “unprecedented efficiency and great scope for creativity.”
A graduate of Coventry University, Jones eventually found 3D design roles with JLR and Triumph Motorcycles before cultivating a successful decade-long career as an independent designer. Since joining Callum, Jones has worked on numerous projects and most recently the Skye concept, revealed in November, as well as the Vanquish 25 and Nyobolt EV. Design director and founder, Ian Callum, noted that the team was “delighted” when Jones joined, “bringing innovative thinking and capable of leading, challening and nurturiung our next generation.”
Reflecting on his time at a major automaker, Jones told us how the experience compares to that of an independent design house. “I learned a lot working at JLR and in that larger studio environment… When I first joined Callum, it was certainly a different experience and a steep learning curve,” he recalls.
“We’re intentionally small as that allows us to be nimble, but it also gives the team more opportunities to lead programmes and gain experience in many different fields – the variety in our projects and the opportunities this provides are incredibly rare to find in-house at an OEM. There’s also the freedom afforded with low volume manufacture. You can push the boundaries much more with one-off bespoke elements, so the opportunities when designing are significantly less constrained.”
Circling back to the role of digital tools within the development process, Jones is keen to emphasise that the team does not design exclusively in 3D – relying on tried-and-tested physical modelling methods too. It is about balancing speed and the ability to quickly implement changes with the intangible benefits of a full-size or scale-model to the naked eye.
A more digitally-led design ethos allows us to work quickly… but there is no substitute for a full-size representation of a product
“It has always been the aim to be as multi-disciplinary as possible,” says Jones. “We have found that following a more digitally-led design ethos allows us to work quickly and develop ideas – both for CALLUM projects and for our clients – with an unprecedented efficiency and great scope for creativity. We strongly believe in avoiding silos and narrowing individuals into specialities: having this diversity and flexibility allows us to provide turnkey design and engineering solutions, which is at the core of CALLUM’s offering.
“It goes without saying that there is no substitute for a full-size representation of a product,” he continues. “We often machine clays or foams, and with the experience of Ian and the team, this is usually to prove out the design and tweak a line or two. Most of our reviews are in VR, which can get us a long way along the development cycle.”
Jones has been promoted at a time where the team is actively growing, including the addition of university graduates and paid internships at its Warwick studio, and will report directly to Ian Callum.