The coronation this week of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla is to be a decadent affair steeped in heritage and ceremony. Naturally, the proud UK Bentley brand are marking the occasion with something very special and the team of Bentley’s craftspeople have worked together to produce a limited series of bespoke cabin cushions for a fleet of Bentleys.
Based at Bentley’s Dream Factory in Crewe, the team has used a combination of fine craftsmanship and cutting edge technology to digitise the special Coronation Emblem before creating each bespoke cushion by hand
Three full days and four iterations or embroidery processing were required to achieve Bentley’s exacting quality standards, with nearly 30,000 stitches in each emblem needing careful refinement. The emblem consists of two separate thread colours, and three different colourways of the emblem were used, to contrast the individually-selected hides for different colours of cushions to match the interiors of the Bentleys that will use them.
Each cushion took over three hours to produce and uses hides sourced from Northern Europe where the temperate climate and lack of barbed wire fencing reduces imperfections. Each hide is checked and marked by hand and eye before being precision cut. Stitched, shaped and finished entirely by hand, the completed cushions rivals the quality of the cars themselves. Trim Developer Ella Mitchell has led the craftsmanship process that’s produced the bespoke cushions for this unique occasion. The cushions will remain with Bentley’s press cars for a time and are not available for purchase.
The most noticeable element in the cabin of any Bentley is the choice of colour of the leather used. The colour combinations for the cushions have been matched to the individual specifications of two Bentayga EWBs and two Bentayga Hybrids, and one other highly bespoke Bentley, in time for this weekend’s coronation celebrations.
The colours of the cushions include Cricketball, Cumbrian Green, Imperial Blue and Saddle, utilising 1.4mm thick leather with accent piping of Beluga, Porpoise, Newmarket Tan and Imperial Blue respectively. Contrasting the leather, the emblems have been sewn in Black, White, Red and Blue thread. The size and shape of the cushions have been modelled from the cushions of the 1958 S1 Continental Flying Spur in Bentley’s Heritage Collection.
