Who’s Where: J Mays joins Royal College of Art as visiting professor

Former Ford Group vice president of design and chief creative officer J Mays has announced his first appointment since leaving Ford in November 2013.

In his role as a visiting lecturer at London’s Royal College of Art, he will teach the school’s post-graduate Vehicle Design students for one day per week.

Following graduating from Art Center in 1980, he joined Audi where he worked on the 80 sedan before moving to BMW three years later to design the 5 and 8 Series models. However his career really took off during his second spell at the Volkswagen Group from 1984 where he was responsible for the Audi 100, Volkswagen Golf and Polo, as well as the Audi Avus and VW Concept One concept cars, the latter of which became the VW New Beetle.

Following his 13 years at Volkswagen he headed to Ford where he remained for 16 and was responsible for establishing the brand’s iconic range of ‘retrofuturistic’ concept and production cars, as well as the later ‘One Ford’ global design language. He remained close ties with the UK capital by setting up the Ingeni studio in the heart of London.

“The Royal College of Art is one of the most prestigious design schools in the world, in one of the world’s most dynamic cities,” said Mays. “I’m delighted to be joining the RCA as a visiting professor. I vividly remember my early days as a design student and how much I valued input from industry professionals. I hope that in some small way I can have a similar impact on the next generation of young automotive designers, helping them transform themselves into design leaders.”

This latest appointment would appear a real coup for the RCA, which has suffered a rather troubled period including key staff memebers leaving over the last two years, including Peter Stevens and Hannah Macmurray.