The House of Rolls-Royce celebrates most successful ever year for Bespoke

GOODWOOD, UK— Following the House of Rolls-Royce’s recent announcement of the highest annual results in its 115-year history, the marque reflects on some of 2018’s finest examples of Bespoke engineering, design and craftsmanship. Rolls-Royce shuns mass-luxury ‘tickbox’ options in favour of Bespoke creations that no other manufacturer can achieve.

2018 will be remembered as one of the most ambitious years for the marque’s Bespoke Collective. Enjoying unprecedented demand for its Bespoke creations, customers are offered near-limitless opportunities to bring their own personal vision to their Rolls-Royce. The marque has an expertly honed understanding of the superluxury market’s requirement for personally tailored and finely crafted items that are more frequently found in the world of horology, superyachts, architecture and private aviation.

Each motor car is crafted by hand at the Home of Rolls-Royce, in Goodwood, West Sussex, which is acknowledged and celebrated as a Global Centre of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence.

PHANTOM ‘WHISPERED MUSE’

Rolls-Royce Phantom ‘Whispered Muse’ is a contemporary masterpiece that reinterprets Charles Sykes’ original drawings of the Spirit of Ecstasy. This remarkable Phantom demonstrates Rolls-Royce’s unrivalled leadership in the art of luxury. Whispered Muse’s design embraces Phantom’s unique glass ‘Gallery,’ an area which exhibits unique works of art and design, by incorporating a sculpted silk adaptation of the Spirit of Ecstasy, created by British artist Helen Amy Murray. The feminine form of the ‘Graceful Little Goddess’ is echoed throughout the Bespoke treatment of the motor car. As a finishing touch, the Spirit of Ecstasy is crafted from Rose Gold – a first for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ Bespoke division.

SCARCER THAN GOLD – THE RUTHENIUM PHANTOM GALLERY

Another outstanding example of Rolls-Royce’s pinnacle motor car is a highly Bespoke Phantom known as the ‘Gentleman’s Tourer’, which presents an aesthetic carefully tailored for transcontinental Grand Touring. The interior is a masculine, operational space, created for long, ultra-luxurious journeys. One feature in particular highlights the technical modernity of this motor car – the Gallery is fashioned from ruthenium, a precious metal from the platinum group. With only 20 tons mined annually – compared with 2,500 tons of gold – this is an especially precious addition to a contemporary Phantom.

SILICON VALLEY MEETS BLACK BADGE

Google’s Vice President of Engineering and a wellknown car enthusiast, Benjamin Treynor Sloss, took delivery of a very personal Rolls-Royce Dawn Black Badge at 2018’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance. The Bespoke Collective at Rolls-Royce reinterpreted the yellow-and-blue colour scheme favoured across the rest of his collection, inspired by the colours of the Modenese flag. A new, intense deep yellow named ‘Superflare’ is paired with the darkest of navy blues named ‘Pikes Peak Blue’ – due to Sloss’s interest in the king of timed hill climbs. The vivid colour scheme is continued throughout the interior, with the seats, dashboard, tonneau cover and rear seat ‘waterfall’ clad in Navy Blue leathers, highlighted with Bright Yellow seat piping and stitched Double-R headrest logos.

PHANTOM IN FUXIA

A Bespoke Phantom was delivered in 2018 to renowned collector, Michael Fux, during Monterey Car Week. The Phantom was his eleventh Bespoke model from RollsRoyce Motor Cars, following the ‘Dawn in Fuxia’ that was handed over during Pebble Beach 2017. As with a number of his other cars, the Phantom is finished in a truly unique paint colour, which is his alone to use – ‘Fux Intense Fuxia Pearl’. Carrying over some of his favourite hues from earlier cars, the interior is trimmed in a combination of vibrant purple ‘Fuxia’ and ‘Arctic White’ leather. This striking Phantom joins Fux’s collection of more than 140 unique motor cars, which he uses to help raise funds for his charity – the Michael Fux Foundation – providing support to children and their families at the Miami Children’s Hospital.

THE SILVER GHOST COLLECTION

In 2018 Rolls-Royce paid homage to the original Silver Ghost with the creation of 35 Bespoke examples – the ‘Silver Ghost Collection’. These motor cars boast carefullyconsidered references to the past: a solid sterling-silver Spirit of Ecstasy, a hammeredcopper insert that pays tribute to the material in the original’s engine bay, and the newly created hallmark ‘AX201’, a tribute to the famous registration plate. Further references to the model’s heritage include open-pore Tudor Oak veneer with silver inlays throughout the cabin and a Bespoke coachline that incorporates 100-percent pure silver particles.

ADAMAS – THE DARKER SIDE OF CONTEMPORARY CRAFTSMANSHIP

Rolls-Royce unveiled Adamas in 2018, its first ever Black Badge Collection, comprising 40 Wraiths and 30 Dawns. The character of these motor cars is reflected by the Adamas name, meaning ‘untameable’ or ‘invincible’, with the resilience of a diamond. These Wraiths and Dawns showcase a darker side of contemporary craftsmanship, with unbreakable carbon structures woven into the motor cars to create a beguiling beauty that captures the rebellious spirit of Black Badge. For the first time, the Spirit of Ecstasy is formed from machined aerospace-grade carbon fibre, while the dashboard clock is encrusted with laboratorygrown black diamonds.

WRAITH LUMINARY COLLECTION

This ‘highly charged’ series of just 55 Wraiths presented a world first for Bespoke craftsmanship. On opening the coach doors, the owner is met by a truly innovative statement of modern luxury, with intricately perforated Tudor Oak wood veneers admitting light from an array of 176 LEDs. The wood is sourced from the forests of the Czech Republic, selected for its depth of colour and the density of the grain structure.

Rolls-Royce’s Bespoke engineers developed a unique shooting star headliner, adding a playful aspect to the configuration of the 1,340 fibre optic lights. Further technical mastery is showcased through a unique stainless steel handwoven fabric used to highlight sections throughout the cabin.