Rajesh Kutty’s success began with the dream he saw with his eyes wide open as a four-year-old, when he sat behind the wheel of a Mercedes and declared very confidently to his father, “I want to be a car driver.
’’ He got his wish quite literally —the only difference being that it was to test the endurance of cars as a vehicle testing engineer.
This was only the beginning of Rajesh’s love affair with cars that now sees him designing vehicles as a part of the interior design team for Mulsanne, Continental GT as well as for future models that will roll out from the luxury car brand, Bentley in the UK. Meanwhile he has also worked on farm tractor designs, eco jets and is on the design team of a train for the 2012 London Olympics.
An internship at TAFE in automobile designing proved to be his professional turning point, “Although cars were my passion, I was earlier into product designing — lights, furniture etc., which was a very valuable experience and taught me a lot.
TAFE gave me an opportunity to work on a real life project where I had to design a full scale clay model of a tractor which had the same specifications as demanded by my superiors.
I finally found my niche and decided to pursue it further with a degree from the prestigious Coventry Institute in London. ‘'
Since then there has been no looking back. Currently based in Crewe, UK, Rajesh is amongst a handful of successful car designers from India who have made it big.
Though in a privileged position, this soft spoken, humble man says wistfully, “My heart is in India but my particular profession does not have many avenues in India where the concept of interior car designing has not matured enough.
I miss home, the food and the culture that is uniquely Indian! The realisation that the car market was primarily in the West prompted me to pursue my passion in London which is where the action was.
I starting off with a small company but it led me to bigger avenues, till I reached Bentley. The job I currently do is very challenging, competitive, involves immense team work and the personal and professional satisfaction is great.’’
Rajesh also does not hesitate to offer advice to aspirants in the field. He says, Rs You can never quantify design! If you are creative, it will show in the sketches and models that you make.
Car designing is more of an art and an inherent flair for designing is perhaps more important than the requisite engineering degree.
I also foresee a bright future in India with more car designing satellite studios to be set up and more foreign manufacturers willing to test the waters there soon.’’
Very encouraging, that!
