Rolls-Royce Unveils Limited Edition Phantom Scintilla: A Tribute to Ethereal Elegance and Timeless Innovation
"Speed with silence, the absence of vibration, and the mysterious harnessing of great energy mark the Rolls-Royce figurine as a superbly graceful living organism," Claude Johnson, Managing Director of Rolls-Royce Limited, initially outlined 1910 for the Rolls‑Royce figurine.
"The unveiling of a Private Collection always marks a landmark moment. These rare and collectable motor cars are true masterpieces, limited to just a handful of examples worldwide. They demonstrate the limitless creativity and skill of the team at the Home of Rolls-Royce, sparking ideas among our clients for their bespoke commissions and reinforcing Rolls-Royce's reputation as a genuine luxury house. We do more than build motor cars; we craft rare, complex, and exquisitely detailed super-luxury products that collectors highly prize today and will treasure far into the future.
We craft exquisite bespoke products and shape extraordinary experiences to meet the demands of today's super-luxury consumers. This approach continues to define our business strategy. We are expanding our global network of VIP-only Private Office outposts, enabling direct collaboration between our designers and clients to co-create the most extraordinary motor cars worldwide. We plan to extend our facilities in Goodwood to enhance our bespoke capabilities, and we remain committed to crafting the most intricate and sophisticated experiences and luxury goods. The Phantom Scintilla, honouring our enduring muse, the Spirit of Ecstasy, perfectly exemplifies these principles," stated Chris Brownridge, Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
For over a century, the Spirit of Ecstasy has symbolised elegance and human achievement, inspiring countless artworks across various media. In 2024, as the marque celebrates its 120th anniversary, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars pays tribute to its timeless muse with a unique Private Collection named Phantom Scintilla. Based on the Phantom Extended – the ultimate personalisation canvas – this magnificent collection celebrates the ethereal beauty, grace, and legacy of the Spirit of Ecstasy.
Limited to just ten examples worldwide, the design of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Scintilla evokes the wonder of the Spirit of Ecstasy's fleeting presence: its exquisite interior features draw inspiration from the apparent movement of her robes as the motor car passes by.
Graceful bespoke embroidery flows throughout the interior, capturing the Spirit of Ecstasy's elegant dynamism and culminating in a complex Gallery artwork. Carefully curated design features subtly reference their origins with nods to Parian Marble: more than 2,000 years ago, an unknown genius of Classical Greece sculpted The Winged Victory of Samothrace. This statue inspired Claude Johnson's original idea for a Rolls‑Royce mascot.
Phantom Scintilla derives its name from the Latin word for 'spark' – a bright flash witnessed only for an instant. This name recalls Claude Johnson's initial inspiration for a mascot, the Greek statue. It captures the Spirit of Ecstasy's ethereal grace – glimpsed only momentarily as the motor car passes, yet leaving a lasting impression.
In 1910, Claude Johnson, then Managing Director of Rolls-Royce, commissioned sculptor and illustrator Charles Sykes to create a Rolls-Royce mascot. Johnson had a specific inspiration in mind: during a visit to Paris, he had been greatly impressed by the Greek marble statue of a deity descending from the heavens – The Winged Victory of Samothrace, dating from 190 BCE.
Sykes felt the statue was too imposing to be a suitable subject. Having frequently travelled in Silver Ghosts, he believed a more delicate, ethereal figure would better express the marque's grace, silence, and subtle power. It is generally accepted that he drew inspiration for what would become the Spirit of Ecstasy from Eleanor Thornton, Lord Montagu's secretary and paramour. In creating Phantom Scintilla, the Bespoke Collective has reclaimed some of Johnson's original inspiration by introducing new materials and subtle references to the captivating vision of The Winged Victory of Samothrace.
The famed statue is sculpted in Parian marble, a fine-grained white marble quarried during the classical era on the Greek island of Paros. Known for its purity and radiance, this material allows light to penetrate several centimetres, giving it a lustre that appears to emanate from within.
For Phantom Scintilla, the Spirit of Ecstasy figurine has received a ceramic finish that skillfully alludes to the texture of Parian marble while retaining its familiar femininity and ethereality – a Rolls-Royce icon that finally unites the visions of both Johnson and Sykes.
"We were captivated by the qualities of Parian marble, and this material became the focus of our research for many months. To create a clear and elegant connection to the famed statue, we developed a ceramic finish that captures the translucence and purity of this unique stone and perfectly embraces the ethereal nature of our icon," explained Celina Mettang, Bespoke Colour and Material Designer at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
Phantom Scintilla's exterior is presented in a two-tone Bespoke finish. The upper body is painted in Andalusian White, with the lower body in Thracian Blue, inspired by the colours of the sea around the island of Samothrace, where the statue of The Winged Victory of Samothrace originates. A subtle metallic flake mimics the sparkle of sunlight on the water. The hand-painted double Coachline and Wheel Pinstripes in Spirit Blue complete the graceful exterior.
The interior is filled with design elements, textures, and a continuous graphic inspired by the Spirit of Ecstasy's expressive, dynamic form. This graphic, resulting from an intense collaboration between Bespoke designers and artisans, moves through the cabin, enveloping the occupants in an uninterrupted energy flow.
"We aimed to create a single graphic that almost appears as a watercolour artwork – we call it 'painting with thread'. We used four colours, thread thicknesses, and stitch orientations to achieve a luminescent effect. In doing so, we covered areas never explored in a Rolls-Royce before, achieving the most extensive density of embroidery ever seen in a Rolls-Royce motor car," said Katrin Lehmann, Bespoke Colour and Material Designer at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
The lead artisan tasked with bringing this idea to life, Brienny Dudley, experimented with various stitches and hues before selecting the tatami stitch. This stitch was applied over six layers, interlacing in varying degrees of density and complexity. The interior composition comprises 869,500 stitches and takes over 40 hours to complete.
"Translating this design into a three-dimensional form was a wonderful creative challenge, requiring more than two and a half years of close collaboration with our Bespoke design team to achieve the right level of detail, texture, and tactility in the embroidery. Two leather and fabric canvases added another complexity, as these materials respond to stitching differently. Thirty-six individually embroidered panels had to be carefully curated to align perfectly, creating a seamless, flowing motif through the interior suite," Brienny Dudley, Bespoke Craft Specialist at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, elaborated.
The embroidered motif on the doors – the most complex door design ever seen on a Rolls-Royce – is made of 633,000 stitches combining Blue Grey, Arctic White, Spirit Blue, Powder Blue, and Pastel Yellow thread, complemented by illuminated perforations. By night, the embroidery takes on a mesmerising, luminescent sparkle and appears to glow from within. The seats are upholstered in a twill fabric with a subtle reflective sheen, providing an additional complexity to the material interplay within the interior. Two hundred thirty-six thousand five hundred stitches applied in Blue Grey, Arctic White, and Spirit Blue thread continue the complex graphic spanning the four doors.
The centrepiece of Phantom Scintilla is a Bespoke artwork in the Gallery that runs the entire width of the front fascia. Entitled Celestial Pulse, the work consists of seven ribbons, each individually milled from solid aluminium, before being adorned with the same finely-grained ceramic finish as the Spirit of Ecstasy figurine. The edges are polished to a mirror shine to catch the light, creating a sense of movement and fluidity.
Claude Johnson's original brief for a Rolls-Royce mascot is displayed on an embossed plate concealed in the glove compartment. These words, penned in 1910, wonderfully capture the essence of the Phantom Scintilla Private Collection: ‘Speed with silence, the absence of vibration, the mysterious harnessing of great energy, and a beautiful living organism of superb grace’.
Phantom Scintilla's Bespoke Starlight Headliner features an animation inspired by the Spirit of Ecstasy's flowing gown. One thousand five hundred fibre-optic 'stars', all placed and fitted by hand in a unique pattern, illuminate in sequence, adding to the sense of motion. The design is completed with 4,450 perforations deliberately made more significant than usual to reveal glimpses of a metallic silver fabric beneath, creating a subtle interplay of light.
The sense of movement continues on the rear picnic tables, with a delicate graphic capturing the Spirit of Ecstasy's fluidity of motion. The motif is applied with the masking technique on top of the glossy iridescent surface, then hand-sanded and coated with a matte finish, creating the illusion of two subtle, shifting colours. The whole wood set is rendered in Arctic White and finished with a lacquer mixed with iridescent metallic particles. To achieve the effect, craftspeople apply up to 19 coats of lacquer, which takes more than 190 hours per motor car.
The Private Collection name is engraved on the polished stainless-steel treadplates. Each commission is supplied with a Bespoke car cover as a finishing touch.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom Scintilla Private Collection is available exclusively through the marque’s international Private Office network.
