The latest Rolls-Royce Phantom to emerge from the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective is the Rose Phantom, commissioned by a Stockholm-based entrepreneur with a great passion for flowers. Ayad Al Saffar’s Rose Phantom is a 35-year dream come true, and the stunning result is a luxury car that showcases the extraordinary skill of the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective. This comes on the heels of an October 2019 release by the company that outlined how global demand for the skills of the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective had soared to new levels.
The patron – a married father of four, with two children named after flowers – challenged the collective to envision a car that would immerse its occupants in a sea of flowers. And the collective delivered, using a million embroidered stitches to craft a vision of flowers in the interior.
The Peacock Blue exterior of the Rose Phantom is punctuated with a Charles Blue twinned-coachline that intertwines organically like the stem of a rose, combining to introduce the rose motif, an indication of both the colours and the treatment within. The wheels echo the design and are embellished with a twinned pinstripe, also in Charles Blue.
Upon opening the doors, one first encounters the embroidery on the inside of the rear doors, but it is not until entering the rear cabin that one fully appreciates the extent of the satin stitch creation. The Phantom Rose illustrates the flower in varying stages of maturity, from bud to full bloom, and the asymmetrical design appears to grow across the roof lining. The marque’s starlight headliner illuminates the scene as the roses are interspersed with fibre-optic lights.
The inspiration for Ieuan Hatherall, a bespoke designer for Rolls-Royce, was the Phantom Rose, which is bred exclusively for Rolls-Royce by British rose breeder Philip Harkness of Harkness Roses. It grows in the courtyard of the marque’s Global Centre of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence at Goodwood in West Sussex, England, and this rose garden is the only place in the world that showcases the Phantom Rose.
(Related: Car review: Rolls-Royce Phantom)
Hatherall said: “There is a transcendent beauty when a rose garden is in full bloom. The patron wanted to create that same feeling of awe; an abundance of flowers to lift the spirit and celebrate nature’s decadent beauty, in the Rose Phantom’s serene interior.”
In the rear compartment, Serenity Seating with a soft calf rest cushion adopts the inverted colour-way of the exterior, as Peacock Blue piping accents the sumptuous Charles Blue leather. From here, one can admire Phantom’s Gallery, created as a centrepiece of the interior. Stems of embroidered roses climb through the glass fronted fascia, providing a spectacle for the motor car’s occupants.
Peacock and Adonis Blue butterflies are sewn amid the flowers, lending a sense of movement to the elegant motif. The patron’s family was involved creatively; his wife designed the umbrellas and his daughter, Magnolia, picked the Phantom’s exterior hue. Said Al Saffar: “I wanted to have flowers and roses everywhere. It became an amazing piece of art.”
Torsten Muller Otvos, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, commented: “The Rose Phantom is a stunning iteration of a contemporary Rolls-Royce. Our extraordinary craftspeople at the Home of Rolls-Royce have achieved, with this car, something which can only be described as sublime. The work of our Bespoke Collective is the best in the world. When I look at creations like this car, it is with a sense of pride that I know that these skills could not be replicated anywhere else in the world. This is undoubtedly one of the greatest Rolls-Royce Phantoms of its generation.”
The Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective comprises a group of designers, artisans, craftspeople and engineers residing at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood-based Global Centre of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence. They are tasked with bringing patrons’ creative ideas to life.
(Related: Classic cars: Restoring a rare Rolls-Royce)
(Photos: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars)
