“Phantom Syntopia is the most ambitious, singular and highly Bespoke Phantom we have ever created, and a clear statement of Rolls-Royce’s standing as a true luxury house. Building on two decades of joint undertakings with the world’s most celebrated design houses, artists, horologists and jewelers, Phantom Syntopia secures Phantom’s standing as the ultimate blank canvas for Bespoke personalization. In collaborating with internationally renowned designer and Haute Couturière Iris van Herpen, we once again redraw the boundaries of innovation, craftsmanship and Bespoke possibility; not just for a motor car but across the wider luxury sector.” – Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has unveiled the Haute Couture-inspired Phantom Syntopia, created in collaboration with famend Dutch designer and Haute Couturière Iris van Herpen. Based on Phantom Extended, it’s the most technically advanced fee ever undertaken by the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective. Now, after 4 years of steady growth, this extraordinary and distinctive creation is full; it can quickly take its place within the non-public assortment of discerning patrons of the model.
Phantom Syntopia takes its title from Iris van Herpen’s landmark 2018 assortment, designed on the rules of biomimicry wherein artwork is impressed by patterns and shapes present in nature.
“For this special collaboration, I was inspired by the concept of ‘Weaving Water’ and transformed the sense of being in movement into an immersive experience of fluidity inside the Phantom. I wanted this to become a state-of-the-art experience being overwhelmed by the forces of nature. The powerful movement of the Phantom is woven into the shifting three-dimensional waves inside the car to embody the ingenuity of nature. When I met the Bespoke Collective, I discovered that the world of Rolls-Royce is very similar to Haute Couture. Every garment I create is a one-off, tailor-made to my client’s individual measurements, just like every Rolls-Royce. My clients come to our atelier in Amsterdam for fittings, just as Rolls-Royce clients are invited to Goodwood throughout the design and craft process. On many levels, this collaboration was a natural symbiosis.”
Iris van Herpen
EXTERIOR COACHWORK: IRIDESCENT MAGNETISM
To create the beautiful, shimmering exterior, the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective developed a one-off “Liquid Noir” paint. Iridescent in daylight, it reveals Purple, Blue, Magenta and Gold undertones when seen at completely different angles. To obtain this impact, solid-black paint is overlaid with a end incorporating a mirror-like pigment, chosen for its color-shifting properties. To add a delicate, elegant shimmer, the workforce developed a brand-new method for making use of pigment to the clearcoat – a course of that took a number of months, together with over 3,000 hours of testing and validation alone.
On nearer inspection, the Phantom Syntopia’s hood includes a delicate rendering of the Weaving Water motif that seems all through the inside, produced by fastidiously redistributing the pigment through the ending course of.
INTERIOR SUITE: THREE-DIMENSIONAL ART
Phantom Syntopia’s inside suite incorporates options that had been co-created in a inventive and technical assembly of minds by the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective and Iris van Herpen. Some inside components had been handcrafted on the Goodwood, United Kingdom house of Rolls-Royce by the corporate’s main craftspeople working alongside members of Iris van Herpen’s workforce, whereas others had been created in Iris van Herpen’s Amsterdam atelier, alongside her Haute Couture clothes.
On opening the coach doorways, the attention is instantly drawn to probably the most technically difficult model of this signature Rolls-Royce function ever produced. It was crafted utilizing a single sheet of leather-based, chosen from over 1,000 hides. Precise symmetrical cuts reveal a silver ‘liquid metal’ texture made out of woven nylon material beneath, utilized in Iris van Herpen’s ‘Embossed Sounds’ assortment, giving the Headliner a three-dimensional look. It is completed with 162 delicate petals fabricated from glass organza, utilized by members of Iris van Herpen’s Couture workforce who traveled to Goodwood to undertake the work – a course of that took almost 300 hours. In addition, 187 of the 995 glowing fiberoptic ‘stars’ had been individually positioned by hand alongside the art work; illuminating sequentially, ranging from the rear and transferring to the entrance, creating a sense of motion. In complete, the whole Headliner alone concerned nearly 700 collective hours of labor.
The ‘Weaving Water’ theme continues all through the distinctive art work within the Gallery, which runs the width of the Phantom’s dashboard. Combining conventional Haute Couture strategies and modern visible kinds, this extremely expressive work features a additional 85 petals, which had been additionally hooked up by hand by Iris van Herpen’s workforce working at Goodwood, representing nearly 60 hours of painstaking work.
The design to be discovered on the picnic tables and the passenger panel slightly below the Gallery mirrors the Weaving Water art work on the hood. The motif was achieved by combining a number of coats of paint and lacquer containing completely different portions of glass particles. Before work started, Rolls-Royce spent 4 months perfecting the method.
NEXT CHAPTER IN TEXTILE EXPLORATION
Phantom Syntopia continues the Bespoke Collective’s exploration of textiles. In homage to Rolls-Royce’s heritage, Phantom Syntopia remembers an period the place a driver’s seat was trimmed in hardwearing leather-based and the rear compartment in luxurious, inviting materials. The entrance seats of Phantom Syntopia are completed in Magic Grey leather-based, distinguished by its lustrous end. The rear seats are upholstered with a specifically created silk-blend material, that includes a particular sample that remembers the patterns solid by gentle reflecting on water at night time.
The seats are quilted with a Weaving Water motif, impressed by a tufting method usually employed in high-quality furniture-making wherein embroidery is utilized to the reverse facet of the textile. This creates a three-dimensional depth whereas reaching a easy, seamless, uninterrupted floor.
PINNACLE LUXURY MEETS HAUTE COUTURE
For a really Haute Couture expertise, Iris van Herpen will design a one-off garment particularly for the shoppers of this transformative fee. The sculptural design of the costume echoes the Weaving Water theme explored in Phantom Syntopia’s Starlight Headliner, that includes a chic software of the ‘liquid metal’ material and the glass organza petals, laser-cut and hand-stitched in a sample resembling undulating waves. This beautiful garment, reflective of Iris van Herpen’s newly developed Haute Couture strategies, is anticipated to take round six months of labor, together with sample growth, crafting and making use of the petals, embroidery, becoming and tailoring.
Phantom Syntopia will take its place within the shoppers’ non-public assortment in May. As a real one-of-one fee that can by no means be replicated.