Rolls-Royce Phantom Centenary: Bespoke British Masterpiece
The Rolls-Royce Phantom Centenary Private Collection marks 100 years of the world’s most revered luxury motor car. It celebrates the Phantom VIII as a meticulously engineered canvas that tells the story of Phantom’s remarkable life and the people who shaped it, from the visionaries within Rolls-Royce to the owners who created its legend. For a century, the Phantom nameplate has expressed the pinnacle of Rolls-Royce craft and innovation. To honour that legacy, this ambitious Private Collection pioneers new techniques and distils more than 40,000 hours of work, culminating in a motor car that reaffirms Phantom’s status as a symbol of ambition, artistic possibility and historical gravitas.
“The Rolls-Royce Phantom Centenary Private Collection is our tribute to 100 years of the world’s most revered luxury item. This uncompromising work of art uses the meticulously engineered Phantom VIII as the canvas to tell the story of Phantom’s remarkable life and the people who shaped it – from the visionaries within Rolls-Royce to the owners who helped create its legend. For a century, the Phantom nameplate has expressed the pinnacle of Rolls-Royce’s abilities. To honour that legacy, this extraordinarily ambitious Private Collection introduces new techniques. It is the result of over 40,000 hours of work, culminating in a motor car which reaffirms Phantom’s status as a symbol of ambition, artistic possibility, and historical gravitas.” Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
Designers, engineers and artisans in the Rolls-Royce Bespoke Collective poured their skill and imagination into a true magnum opus. They immersed themselves in Phantom’s world, studying every generation from the 1920s to the present, exploring defining owners, pivotal Rolls-Royce figures, places of conception and production, and era-defining events. They translated these influences into 77 hand-sketched motifs, woven into the Phantom Centenary Private Collection as exquisitely crafted archival references that honour Phantom’s past, define its present and project the principles that will shape its next century.
“Having the privilege to pay a Bespoke tribute to the Phantom nameplate is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Seizing on the significance of this moment, a record number of designers spent a year immersed in the motor car’s rich history, uncovering the stories that shaped its legend. Their research was distilled into 77 hand-sketched motifs, each capturing a defining moment in Phantom’s journey and expressed with levels of detail we have never attempted before. The result is a true collective work of art that celebrates the skill, ambition and imagination of everyone at the Home of Rolls-Royce, and the profound respect the marque’s creatives have for this extraordinary motor car.” Martina Starke, Head of Bespoke Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
Phantom Centenary stands as the most intricate and technologically ambitious Private Collection created by the Bespoke Collective’s designers, engineers, production specialists and craftspeople. The team developed it over three years, blending metal, wood, paint, fabric, leather and embroidery into a single composition that reads like a book and reveals 100 years of Phantom’s history, rich with symbolic references for clients to admire and decipher for years to come.
“Phantom Centenary is the most intricate and technologically ambitious Private Collection ever undertaken by the designers, engineers, production specialists and craftspeople of our Bespoke Collective. Developed over three years, this project utilises innovative techniques to seamlessly blend metal, wood, paint, fabric, leather, and embroidery into a single, stunning composition. The surfaces read like a book revealing 100 years of Phantom’s history, rich with symbolic references for clients to admire and decipher over many years to come.” Phil Fabre de la Grange, Head of Bespoke, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
For 100 years, influential figures worldwide have chosen Phantom as the ultimate symbol of success and discernment. As this legendary nameplate celebrates its centenary, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars presents the Phantom Centenary Private Collection, limited to 25 examples, each a collectable expression of British luxury.
Each historic moment comes to life through advanced artisanal techniques conceived for this rare tribute. Inside, couturier-designed textiles, sketch-like embroidery, laser-etched leather and groundbreaking woodcraft, including 3D marquetry, gilding and 3D ink layering, tell Phantom’s story in intricate detail. Outside, a unique Spirit of Ecstasy crowns the grille, reinterpreted from the first figurine to grace a Phantom and presented in solid gold to mark the milestone.
The exterior presents an elegant, bespoke statement that evokes the timeless glamour of a black-and-white film star and recalls the golden age of Hollywood, when Phantom appeared at premieres, carried screen icons and embodied the era’s allure. A Bespoke two-tone finish nods to the flowing silhouette of 1930s Phantoms, with Super Champagne Crystal over Arctic White along the sides and Super Champagne Crystal over Black for the upper body. Specialists created an extraordinary metallic shimmer by infusing the clear coat with iridescent particles of crushed glass, replacing the transparent flakes with champagne-coloured particles and doubling the quantity for spellbinding depth.
A reimagined Spirit of Ecstasy crowns this treatment. Using the first Spirit of Ecstasy, fitted to a Phantom, as a reference, designers created an homage cast in solid 18-carat gold for strength, then plated it in 24-carat gold for a flawless, tarnish-resistant finish. The Hallmarking & Assay Office in London applied a specially developed Phantom Centenary hallmark. Artisans finished the base in hand-poured white vitreous enamel and inscribed the collection’s name with precision. For the first time, the RR Badge of Honour on the front, rear and flanks appears in 24-carat gold with white enamel. Disc wheels complete the exterior, each engraved with 25 lines to honour the 25 motor cars and together forming 100 lines for the centenary year.
Inside, the Private Collection immerses clients in Phantom’s legend through archival references that unfold across multiple surfaces. In homage to historic Phantoms, the cabin combines textiles and leather, recalling the marque’s foundational years, when a chauffeur’s seat was made from hard-wearing leather and the rear cabin featured luxurious fabrics—a contrast that signals authority at the wheel and absolute serenity in the passenger suite.
Tailoring excellence defines the rear seats, inspired by the famed 1926 Phantom of Love with handwoven Aubusson tapestries. Artwork unfolds across three layers. The background, printed in high resolution, shows places and artefacts from Phantom’s history, from the original Conduit Street premises in London to Henry Royce’s oil paintings of Southern France. A second, finely drawn, high-resolution layer portrays great Phantoms of the past. The third and uppermost layer introduces embroideries that abstractly represent seven significant owners from every Phantom generation. Rolls-Royce developed this complex fabric over 12 months in collaboration with a fashion atelier, marking its first commission beyond haute couture. It perfected high-resolution printing with specially adapted inks to meet exacting standards of longevity, tactility, and aesthetics.
Embroideries with a uniquely hand-drawn character, described by the Bespoke Collective as “sketching with thread,” capture the essence of a pencil line. Artisans outlined and defined each image with Golden Sands thread in sketch-like irregular stitches to create the illusion of lines floating above the surface, then added texture and depth with Seashell thread in high-density stitches. Across the whole composition, this amounts to more than 160,000 stitches. The finished artwork comprises 45 individual panels, each carefully aligned and fitted to the seat curvatures at the Home of Rolls-Royce, a process inspired by Savile Row tailoring. The result becomes the most intricate seat composition Rolls-Royce has created.
“Conceived as a contemporary interpretation of a handwoven tapestry, the rear seats tell Phantom’s story through carefully curated details, captured in textiles and embroidery. Every embroidered element was digitally redrawn by artisans who selected specific stitch applications for every stroke. For example, in the horse motif, we used spaced stitches to recreate the hair texture, then dense stitching to define the muscle. These fine details required extraordinary precision to get right: one motif went through 24 iterations before we were satisfied. This reflects the deep personal pride we felt in creating a fitting tribute to the Phantom nameplate, and the responsibility we all share in carrying its legacy forward.” Celina Mettang, Bespoke Colour and Material Designer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
The front seats introduce a design statement for the driver’s quarters. Laser-etched leather features artwork based on hand drawings by a Bespoke designer and evokes the draughtsman’s craft. Symbolic motifs carry the weight of Phantom’s 100-year legacy, from a rabbit that nods to Roger Rabbit, the codename for the 2003 Rolls-Royce relaunch, to a seagull, the codename for the 1923 Phantom I prototype.
At the centre of the cabin, the Anthology Gallery tells a story of distinction over 100 years. This dramatic composition features 50 3D-printed, vertically brushed aluminium fins, arranged like interlaced pages. Sculpted letters read from both sides and form quotes drawn from a century of press acclaim. Subtle, shifting illumination recalls the shimmer of falling fireworks, and the brushed fin edges play with reflections that change as the viewer moves.
The woodwork forms a sculptural statement, representing the most intricate timber artistry ever created for a Rolls-Royce. Developed over a year in stained Blackwood, the door panels depict Phantom’s most significant journeys. Each composition interweaves geographical maps, winding routes, sweeping landscapes, floral elements, and experimental motorcars to create living heritage. The rear doors portray the coastline of Le Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer, where Sir Henry Royce spent winters. The right-hand front door shows the landscape of West Wittering, home to his summer residence and eight miles from today’s Home of Rolls-Royce. The left-hand front door recalls the first Goodwood-era Phantom’s 4,500-mile crossing of Australia from Perth.
Craftspeople combine 3D multi-directional marquetry, laser etching, 3D ink layering, and gold leafing to build dimension and texture. They apply etched motifs at three depths, then set the roads in 24-carat gold formed from squares of leaf just 0.1 micrometres thick, each road cut and placed by hand. The rear doors also portray flora native to Southern France, including pine, cypress, ferns and palm. In contrast, a section of the rear passenger door recreates one of Sir Henry Royce’s original oil paintings of the region, translated from canvas to wood. Single gold-leaf dots just 2.76 mm in diameter mark the exact locations of Royce’s homes, Villa Mimosa in the South of France and Elmstead in West Wittering.
“We drew on an extraordinary range of sources – original texts, diaries, photographs and paintings – to create a composition that weaves together many threads of Phantom’s story. New technology developed for this project, including 3D ink layering, enabled us to add details at a scale never before possible – some as small as 0.13 mm in height – from a boat sailing across the sea to location names on a map. It’s a privilege to have the time and technology to realise moments in Phantom’s history with the detail and precision the nameplate deserves.” Katrin Lehmann, Bespoke Colour and Material Designer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
The wooden door surfaces flow into masterfully embroidered leather panels. The 24-carat gold roads continue as golden thread embroidery, and map details appear in black stitching that echoes the etched veneers. The rear picnic tables feature depictions of the original 1925 Phantom I and the current Phantom VIII, individually etched into the veneer, with mirrored embroidery on the leather backs to unite past and present. Piano Black veneer infused with gold dust echoes the central rotary dial, also plated in 24-carat gold, and deepens the sense of occasion associated with British luxury cars.
A golden legacy powers the experience. Rolls-Royce celebrates the magnificent 6.75-litre V12 with a specially designed cover finished in Arctic White and detailed in 24-carat gold, a fitting tribute to the effortless power that defines Phantom’s modern legend.
Phantom’s story continues in starlight. An animated, embroidered Starlight Headliner captures moments from the model’s history in 440,000 stitches. Its design references the mulberry tree under which Henry Royce sat in his West Wittering garden with colleagues Charles L. Jenner and Ernest Hives. The Bespoke Collective aimed to create an atmosphere of inspiration, allowing clients seated beneath the Headliner to experience their own flashes of imagination.
The scene expands to include the square-crowned trees in the Goodwood courtyard, and honeybees, which reference the 250,000 residents of the Rolls-Royce Apiary, in flight towards the Phantom Rose, grown exclusively at the Home of Rolls-Royce. Interwoven constellations pay quiet tribute to great Phantoms of the past, including a bird motif for Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Phantom II, known as the Bluebird. Hidden among mulberry leaves—a subtle reference to the vault door's locking mechanism at The Bank, the secret 1990s design studio where the first Goodwood-era Phantom was drafted—this secret rewards the attentive eye.
For everyone who created the Phantom Centenary Private Collection, this motor car represented a once-in-a-generation responsibility. What they achieved reflects the same spirit that gave rise to Phantom itself —a relentless pursuit of excellence and an ambition to craft the world's finest motor car. As a limited-edition luxury car series of just 25 examples, the Phantom Centenary elevates British craftsmanship, bespoke design, and Rolls-Royce heritage for discerning collectors who value authenticity, rarity, and enduring significance.
