Hot Shot

How designer and car nut Craig Callum found his dream job as head designer at Hot Wheels

- COLIN GOODWIN

WE'RE MORE THAN HALFWAY THROUGH THE year so we can assume that Craig Callum has already designed around 30 cars in 2024. Not even the Chinese automotive brands produce this many new cars a year, so where is it that Callum is working? The answer is Mattel, makers of the legendary Hot Wheels model cars that many of us grew up with. But before we get into the fascinating story of a designer whose life and career have followed a very different course to most in his trade, we must deal with his surname.

Much to my surprise, fellow Scots Craig and Ian Callum are not directly related. 'There are two designers in particular who have had an enormous influence on me and who both have become friends,' says Callum. 'One is lan and the other is Peter Stevens. I'd wanted to be a car designer since I was five years old but nobody in my family did anything remotely similar so I had to find my own way. In my teens I heard about the automotive design course at Coventry University and thought that drawing cars was my sort of university degree.

'Before going to Coventry, when I was 17, I turned up at Peter Stevens' studio in my classic Mini and literally doorstepped him. In his studio, which is a converted barn, there were model cars, books, nick-nacks, bits and pieces of cars and sketches on his desk. I'd grown up in a normal house and hadn't seen this sort of thing. What also struck me about Peter is the variety of his work over the years. From designing one of the most famous supercars of all time, to trams, to racing car liveries. This showed me the breadth of design and how varied a career you could have. He has been an inspiration and mentor over the years and we have stayed friends ever since.'