Tailor Made Ferrari Roma carries design elements from Japanese culture, crafts

MANILA: Ferrari unveils a one-of-a-kind Roma model, crafted by the Italian car marque's bespoke Tailor Made department. The Tailor Made Ferrari Roma features exquisite traditional Japanese-inspired detailing and clean, sophisticated elegance of the original car.

Ferrari Tailor Made is an exclusive program for those who wish to customize each element of their Ferrari to create a vehicle that truly reflects their personality and tastes. Customers who participate in the Tailor Made program are assisted by a team of experts led by a personal designer that interprets their desires while upholding the aesthetic standards of the Ferrari brand.

The Tailor Made Ferrari Roma came about after Evan Orensten and Josh Rubin, the founders of the award-winning independent US publication dedicated to design, culture and technology Cool Hunting, accepted the opportunity of customizing a Ferrari Roma. The aim was to explore how far Ferrari’s bespoke personalization program could go and really push the boundaries.  

Cool Hunting founders met Flavio Manzoni, Ferrari Chief Design Officer, in the Ferrari Tailor Made showroom in New York. They had just returned from several research trips to Japan where they had immersed themselves in the country’s traditional crafts and artisanal methods, and proposed bringing some of those ideas and unique materials into the Tailor Made journey. 

Flavio Manzoni and his team were inspired by the parallels between Italian and Japanese culture and design philosophy: a single-minded devotion to quality, an emotional involvement with the client, and exquisite skills in craftsmanship that have been passed down from generation to generation.

An idea formed — to create a Ferrari featuring some of the unique materials developed from traditional Japanese techniques while employing Ferrari’s customary innovation. 

Traditional Japanese indigo dyes inspired the  Tailor Made Ferrari Roma’s color scheme, particularly the vivid blue exterior paint which was specially developed for this car and named Indigo Metal. This vivid color perfectly enhances the Roma’s shape — light appears to flow over its bodywork, accentuating its lines through highlights and shade. 

Indigo features prominently in Japanese design culture, and the traditional dye is produced naturally. Cool Hunting had visited Toyama, one of only five remaining indigo farms in Tokushima, Japan’s traditional indigo-growing region. They learned that the dye comes from a green plant which, when harvested and fermented, becomes sukumo, traditional dried Japanese indigo that is mixed with lye, sake and limestone powder to create authentic Hon-Ai indigo dye. Because of its antimicrobial properties it was traditionally used for linens, bedding, and clothing.

The same color palette is used to tie together the Tailor Made Roma’s exterior and interior. The indigo shade is also found in the sakiori fabric used for the seat trim inserts and the carpets.

Sakiori is one of the world’s oldest examples of upcycling, dating from the 1700s when cotton and silk were available only to Japan’s nobility and the very wealthy. Worn-out kimonos were disassembled, their fabric cut into strands and rewoven with new fibers, creating a material that was warm, comfortable, and durable. The word comes from the Japanese saku (to rip up) and oru (to weave).

The indigo theme is carried through to the Tailor Made Roma’s headlining. It is comprised of two indigo-dyed hides made with Asai Roektsu in Kyoto — one with a unique solid colour crafted to match the car’s color scheme, and a hand-painted hide using the Roketsu method, which can be traced back to the 8th century. 

The Cool Hunting  team were further inspired by a visit to Kaikado, a Kyoto-based family business known for its iconic copper tea canisters. Inspired by this, Copper plating is found in details on the Roma’s gear shift gate surround and levers, which were plated in Japan. The outline of the dual cockpits, the wheel rims and the kamon are also made in this color.

The Ferrari Roma represents the pinnacle of performance in this category, thanks to its turbocharged V8 from the family of engines that won the overall International Engine of the Year award four years running.

The Tailor Made Ferrari Roma for Cool Hunting will be on display in the Ferrari Tailor Made Showroom during the New York Design Week. 

Photos from Ferrari

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