When Rolls-Royce chooses to celebrate something, it tends to do so properly. The Phantom Centenary Collection is a case in point. Just twenty-five cars, each built to honour the world’s most famous luxury motor car and the century of stories behind it. The result took three years to develop and required over 40,000 hours of work from the Bespoke Collective.
“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.”
Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce
A century in design and discovery
Before a single stitch was made, the Bespoke Collective devoted over a year to research, studying every Phantom since the 1920s. They distilled it all into 77 hand-drawn motifs, each capturing a defining moment from a hundred years of innovation.
“Having the privilege to pay a Bespoke tribute to the Phantom nameplate is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. A record number of designers spent a year immersed in the motor car’s rich history, uncovering the stories that shaped its legend.”
Martina Starke, Head of Bespoke Design, Rolls-Royce
Crowning the grille is the Spirit of Ecstasy, cast in solid 18-carat gold, then plated in 24-carat, bearing a unique ‘Phantom Centenary’ hallmark from London’s Assay Office. The base features hand-poured white vitreous enamel inscribed with the collection’s name. Each wheel carries twenty-five engraved lines, one for each car, totalling a hundred for the hundred years.
The exterior paintwork sparkles with a iridescent crushed glass particles infused into the clear coat. Rolls-Royce developed a bespoke paint finish that seems to glow under the light. Super Champagne Crystal over Arctic White on the side body, Super Champagne Crystal over Black on the upper body. Standard flakes were replaced with champagne-coloured fragments.
A Cabin that reads like history
The rear seats take inspiration from the 1926 Phantom of Love, whose owner ordered woven tapestries instead of leather. The story of Phantom unfolds across three layers: high-resolution prints showing places and artefacts from the marque’s past; finely drawn images of historic models; and embroidery representing seven notable owners across every generation.
This fabric took twelve months to perfect with a haute couture atelier in its first collaboration outside fashion. Over 160,000 stitches bring the imagery to life using thread applied in irregular, sketch-like strokes. Golden Sands thread outlines each image, whilst Seashell thread adds texture through high-density stitching.
The front seats feature laser-etched leather with hand-drawn motifs: a rabbit for the 2003 “Roger Rabbit” relaunch and a seagull for the 1923 prototype. The materials recall the earliest Phantoms: durable leather for the driver, luxurious fabrics for passengers.
Maps, Gold, and Memory in Wood
The Anthology Gallery transforms words into sculpture. Fifty 3D-printed aluminium fins, brushed and layered like pages of a book, bear quotes from a century of press acclaim. As light moves across the surface, the letters shimmer and shift.
“Phantom Centenary is the most intricate and technologically ambitious Private Collection ever undertaken. This project uses new techniques to blend metal, wood, paint, fabric, leather, and embroidery into a single composition.”
Phil Fabre de la Grange, Head of Bespoke, Rolls-Royce
The doors tell stories of place. Crafted from stained Blackwood, they depict landscapes from Sir Henry Royce’s retreats: Le Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer on the rear doors, West Wittering on the right front door, and the 4,500-mile journey of the first Goodwood-era Phantom across Australia on the left.
Each composition combines three Rolls-Royce firsts: 3D multi-directional marquetry, 3D ink layering, and 24-carat gold leafing. Each road gleams in gold leaf just 0.1 micrometres thick. Details as small as 0.13 mm include boats on seas and location names. One section recreates Sir Henry Royce’s original oil painting, translated from canvas to wood. The gold roads continue into embroidered leather panels, whilst the rear picnic tables feature etched depictions of the 1925 Phantom I and current Phantom VIII.
A Ceiling of Stars
The Starlight Headliner features 440,000 stitches forming a starlit canopy. The scene shows Henry Royce beneath his mulberry tree in West Wittering with colleagues Charles L. Jenner and Ernest Hives. Constellations sparkle, honeybees from the Goodwood apiary hover in flight, and the Phantom Rose appears in the composition.
Hidden within are nods to famous Phantoms, including a bird motif representing Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Phantom II, the ‘Bluebird’, and a reference to the vault door at ‘The Bank’, the secret design studio where the first Goodwood-era Phantom was drafted.
Even the 6.75-litre V12 engine received attention, wearing an Arctic White cover with 24-carat gold detailing.
The Art of Lasting Luxury
The Phantom Centenary Private Collection celebrates everything that made this nameplate legendary: the pursuit of technical perfection, the willingness to spend years perfecting what others might rush, and the understanding that some achievements deserve more than acknowledgment. A hundred years on, Phantom continues with the same quiet confidence, now with 25 cars that prove the story is far from finished.