Rolls-Royce Phantom Syntopia, an exclusive one-off with a complex interior roof

If I tell you the name Iris van Herpen, you probably won’t have the slightest idea who I’m talking about, unless the world of fashion is also your thing, since van Herpen is a renowned and award-winning Dutch haute couture designer who has been working since 2018 alongside the craftsmen of Rolls-Royce to bring us the one-off we are showing you today: the Phantom Syntopia.

Bespoke Collective is the Rolls-Royce department that handles the most exclusive commissions requested by its wealthy clients, a kind of haute couture department that, instead of dressing people, dresses the interiors of the luxury vehicles of the English marque. Drawing on its 2018 collection inspired by biomimicry, the science that studies nature as a source of inspiration for new technologies, for the Phantom Syntopia Iris van Herpen takes as her reference shapes and patterns found in nature.

The great work of the Phantom Syntopia lies in its interior, but that does not mean Rolls-Royce has neglected the exterior: at Bespoke Collective they have created the unique Liquid Noir iridescent paint, which, depending on how the sun strikes the bodywork, reflects shades of purple, blue, magenta and gold. To achieve this effect, they applied a very dark solid black paint overlaid with a mirror-like pigment, while the gloss is obtained by applying it in a completely different way that has required, among other things, more than 3,000 hours of testing and validation.

When you open the doors of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Syntopia, the most exclusive art makes its appearance, located precisely in the roof. As you know, the interior roof lining of Rolls-Royce models is a work of art in itself, but this time Iris van Herpen has taken it a step further. It features a single piece of leather that was chosen from among more than 1,000 samples, with symmetrical cuts combined with nylon fabric, a technique inspired by the Dutch designer’s Embossed Sounds collection.

Both fabric and leather form a kind of petals, 162 pieces that are also finished with glass to further enhance that three-dimensional appearance, a task that required the designer’s team and the Bespoke Collective team almost 300 hours of joint work. This work on the roof does not end here, since any modern Rolls-Royce worth its salt must have “stars” in its roof: 995 fibre optic points, 187 of which had to be placed by hand, and which light up in sequence, creating a sense of movement.

But Iris van Herpen’s work does not end with the roof, since for the seat upholstery she was inspired by those fitted to the Rolls-Royce of yesteryear, in which the front seats were in hard-wearing leather for the chauffeur while the rear seats were upholstered in fine fabrics. In the Phantom Syntopia, glossy Magic Grey leather has been chosen for the front seats, while the rear seats use silk in a pattern inspired by the reflections of water. All of this is complemented by a fragrance created for the occasion, released through a mechanism located in the headrest.