Rolls-Royce has co-created a bespoke offering of its Phantom model as part of a collaboration with French fashion house Hermès.
Designed and crafted by a combined team of specialists at Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood facility in the UK and Hermès in Paris, the ‘Phantom Oribe’ reflects the personality and passions of its owner, Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa. According to Rolls-Royce, its client envisioned the car as a ‘land jet’, bringing the exclusivity of private air travel to the road.
Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said,“This magnificent expression of our pinnacle product represents a landmark for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, bringing together two houses with more than three centuries’ combined experience and heritage. It is the result of a deep, genuine collaboration between the Houses of Rolls-Royce and Hermès, in which designers, materials specialists and skilled craftspeople worked side by side to create a truly one-of-a-kind Phantom. It has been an extraordinary privilege to unite on such a creatively challenging, technically demanding commission and bring our client’s remarkable vision so beautifully to life.”
The car’s striking two-tone exterior matches the characteristic green and cream glazes of antique Japanese Oribe ware, of which Maezawa-san is a prominent collector. The upper part is finished in Oribe Green, a color created exclusively for the client. In an unusual move, Rolls-Royce has made the paint available for use on his private jet which the Phantom will be paired with.
The Oribe ware-inspired colorway continues through the interior. The interior is finished predominantly in Hermès enea green leather, extending to details that include the immediate touchpoints, for example, the steering wheel, duchess handles, gear selector and the rotary controls for the motor car’s climate settings.
The Hermès leather flows around the upper instrument panel, interior pillars and parcel shelf. It also covers less visible surfaces including the glove compartment and luggage compartment lining, center console, decanter stowage compartment and Champagne cooler. In a sign of the project’s truly collaborative nature, and the two makers’ mutual esteem, the glove compartment lid is embossed with the signature Habillé par Hermès Paris.
The interior is also replete with examples of Rolls-Royce bespoke design elements. The wooden speaker frets, for example, are formed by perforating the open pore royal walnut veneer applied to the doors. In a first for Rolls-Royce, the interior also features Hermès ‘Toile H’ canvas on the door armrests, center and rear consoles and, most notably, the headliner.
Hermès brings its equestrian heritage to the leather upholstery, which is created using stitching and edge-painting techniques originally employed by master saddlers. For the Phantom’s gallery, a feature unique to Rolls-Royce, that runs the length of the motor car’s fascia, Hermès commissioned an artwork based on a design by the celebrated French artist and illustrator Pierre Péron (1905–1988) who created many of the House’s iconic scarves. The work, inspired by the famous Hermès horse motif, is hand-painted on the walnut and is presented as though staged in an art gallery, behind glass.
Müller-Ötvös concluded, “This majestic and tasteful Rolls-Royce Phantom demonstrates what is possible when talented people from two of the world’s great houses work closely together alongside a far-sighted, inspirational client like Maezawa-san. It is a meeting of minds, expertise, visions and skill that represents the very best of our respective craftspeople and capabilities.”
