2021 was a record-breaking year for Rolls-Royce in terms of sales, and consequently, it was also a success for extravagant bespoke builds. 2022 has barely started and the creators of art on wheels are already presenting a special vehicle. The Phantom Orchid unveiled in Singapore is the latest one-off, and as its name suggests, orchids are the central theme.
It should be mentioned this is not the first vehicle with the colorful flowering plant. However, it is the first Rolls-Royce commission to highlight orchids. Based on the Extended model, the one-of-one Phantom Orchid was developed by RR’s Bespoke Collective in collaboration with artist Helen Amy Murray. She assembled a team of six people and spent more than 200 hours perfecting the elegant design.
The project has been in the making for over two years and lives up to its Phantom Orchid name by extensively featuring the fragrant flower. The coachline is adorned with an orchid on the front fenders and you can find the same motif on the picnic tables and illuminated treadplates. The dashboard represents the most obvious implementation of an orchid.
It’s Worthy Of Its Name Once You See The Interior
The stretched Phantom has a unique cabin with an exquisite application of silk on the dashboard. Helen Amy Murray reinforced the orchid theme with manually inserted silk. The veritable artwork is nestled behind an uninterrupted glass panel spanning across the entire dashboard. Its Grace White background is combined with Havana and Smoke Grey with Dark Olive stitching to accentuate the floral motif.
The UK-based artist explains it all started by illustrating the design by hand before converting it into a digital equivalent. The latter was necessary to directly print the orchids onto the silk crepe satin. Finally, the last step of the process and perhaps the most delicate was to hand-sculpt the flowers. It was done in such a way as to create a 3D effect by releasing layers of fabric.
[Source: Rolls-Royce]
