Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy Winners

Rolls-Royce is always in search of new designers and creative artists and has created a challenge in the name of the iconic winged ornament- the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy.  Now in its 110^th anniversary, the Spirit of Ecstasy is a symbol of creativity and inspiration. Rolls-Royce’s mission to inspire greatness ‘finds a natural affinity with the restless curiosity that spurs artists to venture into new terrain’. 

Recently, Rolls-Royce started the Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge, which is a novel biennial initiative that selects young innovative and creative design visionaries to develop unique works inspired by the Spirit of Ecstasy and Rolls-Royce. The Spirit of Ecstasy is the delicate figurine that sits on the bonnet of each and every Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce is now focused on finding a different medium to improve the Spirit of Ecstasy. The competition has been designed to challenge participants to consider other materials for construction and push the textile design to the extreme. In doing so, Rolls-Royce has set the bar high, and they have now announced the Spirit of Ecstasy winners.

They include Ghizlane Sahli, Bi Rongrong, and Scarlett Yang – all were carefully selected by an international jury of leading world designers. 

Ghizlane Sahli is a Moroccan artist who studied architecture at the Ecole d’Architecture de Paris Tolbiac and Ecole Nationale supérieure d’Architecture. She returned to Morocco after her studies and has established an embroidery workshop with local artisan women. She has deep beliefs about the preservation of our environment. She drew on her experiences with Moroccan textiles to become one of the Spirit of Ecstasy winners. She blended traditional and contemporary styles, which was perfect for what this challenge was meant for. “I am very honoured to take part,” said Ghilalne, whose proposal was directly inspired by the iconic figurine. ‘The fact that it’s a woman’s body with wings! It’s just something that corresponds to me at this time of my life… The woman, the body, the wings, the perfection, the attitudes, it’s all exactly what I’m looking for now.”

Bi Rongrong is a Chinese artist who lives in Shanghai. She excels at collecting ornamental patterns of architecture and through digital and/or manual processing has transformed them with a mix of media works, including fabrics, collage, video, and site-specific installation. She loves to transform space into a pictorial landscape, and the judges clearly thought her style and creative energy was perfectly fitting for the Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge. 

Scarlett Yang, the last of the Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge winners, is a London-based designer with a focus on virtual and tactile mediums. She graduated from the Central St. Martins college in London and her art practice has involved innovative approaches to the intersection of design, fashion, and technology. Her work has been exhibited internationally and published in many magazines inducing Numerps, Vogue, and i-Device.

The final designs by the three competitors for the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy will be unveiled in the summer of 2022. The three will then go on a global tour to showcase their design talent. 

If you are interested in more about the Rolls-Royce community, then get involved at Rolls-Royce of Palm Beach!