Rolls-Royce Phantom Syntopia makes its debut

The bespoke vehicle was created in collaboration with fashion designer Iris van Herpen

Fashion designer Iris van Herpen stands next to the Rolls-Royce Phantom she helped design. Photo: Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce has unveiled the Syntopia, its most technically complex bespoke Phantom so far.

The vehicle was created in collaboration with Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen and was four years in the making.

Phantom Syntopia takes its name from the haute couturier’s 2018 collection, which was created around the concept of art being inspired by patterns and shapes found in nature.

Rolls-Royce says the Syntopia seeks to represent the “ethereal beauty of fluid motion in solid materials through its weaving water theme”.

That aquatic concept is key to the car's interior, which features three-dimensional textile details meant to capture the movement of the sea.

To create the shimmering exterior, Rolls-Royce developed a one-off paint called Liquid Noir, for a swirly effect. Black is the base colour, but there are elements of blue, magenta and gold in there as well.

Inside, the ceiling of the car — what Rolls-Royce refers to as the Starlight Headliner in its vehicles — is the most eye-catching feature. In this tech-savvy model, it was crafted using a single sheet of leather, selected from more than 1,000 hides.

Cuts in the fabric reveal a silver texture underneath made from woven nylon fabric, and used in van Herpen’s Embossed Sounds collection, giving the ceiling a three-dimensional appearance.

It is finished with 162 petals made of glass organza, a process that took nearly 300 hours. In addition, 187 of the 995 fibre-optic stars were individually placed alongside the artwork.

In total, the Headliner alone involved almost 700 collective hours of work.

Rolls-Royce says this is a one-off vehicle, which will never be replicated. There is no word on how much the Syntopia cost to create or who it is destined for, but it will be making its way to the no-doubt highly appreciative owner’s doorstep in May.

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