Bentley Continental GT V8 S Convertible receives bold pop art design by illustrious British artist, Sir Peter Blake.

• Bentley Continental GT V8 S Convertible receives bold pop art design
• Conceived by illustrious British artist, Sir Peter Blake
• Bentley’s skilled artisans realise unique features
• Bonhams to auction car at Goodwood Festival of Speed
• All funds raised to be donated to Care2Save Charitable Trust

Bentley Motors has teamed up with the godfather of British pop art, Sir Peter Blake, to create a one-of-a-kind Bentley Continental GT V8 S Convertible. This unique car will be auctioned for charity by Bonhams at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 24 June.

Bentley commissioned Sir Peter to deliver the world’s first pop art Bentley, drawing on inspiration from the acclaimed artist’s celebrated career at the forefront of the famous British pop art movement. Bentley has donated the car to the Care2Save Charitable Trust, which provides palliative and hospice care around the world.

Commenting on this individual commission and the Charitable Trust, Kevin Rose, Bentley’s Member of the Board for Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, says:

“Sir Peter has designed a strikingly colourful car, encapsulating exactly why he is thought of as one of Britain’s leading artists. It was a fascinating project to be part of, particularly for the skilled artisans in our bespoke Mulliner division, who worked closely with Sir Peter to bring this design to life. We have proudly supported the Care2Save Charitable Trust and the hospice movement for more than 25 years and so take great delight from donating this inimitable car for such a worthwhile cause.”

Sir Peter Blake, perhaps best known for designing the sleeve for The Beatles iconic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, comments:

“I am proud to have been involved with transforming this beautiful car, and have enormous admiration for the people at Bentley who brought my design into being, to produce this one-off lovely car.”

Possibly the most striking feature of Sir Peter’s bold vision - instantly recognisable as a Sir Peter trademark - is a St James Red heart motif hand painted onto a Continental Yellow bonnet, a symbol in-keeping with the compassionate work of hospices.

Throughout the exterior of the car, the use of collage - another characteristic of his work - demonstrates bright but clearly defined colour. A St Luke’s Blue - a bespoke colour introduced by Sir Peter, named in homage to Bentley’s local St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice - dominates the cars iconic rear haunches, doors and boot lid, with a British Racing Green lower body, and a Fuchsia pink-coloured radiator shell. 

The bright paint colours compliment the black exterior brightware and a black hood, incorporating a darker sub-tone while allowing the bright exterior colours to flourish.   

The cabin is also an expression of individuality, with each seat trimmed in a different hide colour; Cumbrian Green, Imperial Blue, Newmarket Tan and Hotspur, reflecting more tonal shades of the exterior surfaces.     

The same colours are echoed on the sports steering wheel, featuring a Hotspur outer rim, Newmarket Tan inner rim and Cumbrian Green centre, with Imperial Blue stitching. The vivid pink leather gear lever stands out against the centre console, dashboard and interior door panels, all veneered by Bentley’s craftspeople in Piano Black.

Sir Peter’s signature is incorporated onto the fascia panel and embroidered on all four seat headrests. To finish, unique storage cases feature a Piano Black veneer outer but with Continental Yellow and St James Red internal linings to reflect the bonnet colour theme. 

A distinctive treadplate, signifying that this is a Sir Peter Blake design, labelling ‘No. 1 of 1’ finishes the car. These unique features have been delivered through Bentley’s specialist bespoke division, Mulliner.           

                       

The Sir Peter Blake design, which also includes a personalised playlist from the artist’s favourite music, is the second Bentley Continental GT Bentley is donating to the Care2Save Charitable Trust.            

The Bentley By Me campaign launched earlier this year, allowing people the opportunity to donate any amount from £1 to help transform hospice and palliative care around the world, with the opportunity to win a Bentley.

Reinforcing the importance of such initiatives to palliative and hospice care support, Andrea Ladeira, CEO of Care2Save, says:       

“Bentley has supported its local hospice every year since it opened 28 years ago. In turn, the hospice has given love, support and comfort to hundreds of people and their loved ones who are connected to Bentley. It is this excellent care which needs much-needed funds on a wider scale, seeing hospice and palliative care across the UK and globally benefit. 

The end of someone’s life should bring dignity, love and comfort both to the person who is dying and all those who care about them. We hope that this amazing car will deliver a lasting legacy of care. Without the dedication of Bentley colleagues, none of this would be possible.”  

Using the money raised from the Bentley by Me and Bentley By Blake campaigns, The Care2Save Charitable Trust will work with organisations and charities in other countries to educate and empower them to build their own sustainable and affordable hospice and palliative care models.  

Malcolm Barber, Bonhams Co-Chairman, said: “This collaboration with luxury marque Bentley, world-renowned British artist, Sir Peter Blake, and Bonhams, auctioneers of fine art and motor cars, is the perfect partnership.

“We have a long established relationship with Bentley, as the world record holders for the most valuable Bentley sold at auction, and are delighted to have been selected as the auctioneers of choice for the sale of this truly special motor car, with proceeds to benefit such a wonderful charity. The Festival of Speed is the perfect platform for selling such a rare motor car, so we look forward to some spirited bidding.”

200 hours, 2000 pieces of paper and a 5th birthday, thats will be for the Nissan Juke crossover.

• British artist, Owen Gildersleeve, creates life-size Origami replica of Nissan Juke
• Unique paper sculpture uses 2,000 folded pieces of paper and took 200 hours to make
• The sculpture celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Juke, which is Nissan’s second best-selling model in Europe with over 700,000 sold since launch

They say the best ideas start with just a blank piece of paper. Celebrating the model’s 5^th anniversary – and its market-leading sales of over 700,000 – Nissan and a British paper artist have collaborated on a unique project to create a full-scale Origami Juke.

In a nod to Nissan’s Japanese heritage and inspired by the very first steps of car design – getting ideas onto paper – artist Owen Gildersleeve hand built the intricate replica model from paper to the exact dimensions of the current Juke.

Owen took more than 200 hours and folded more than 2,000 pieces of paper to create the detailed sculpture.

The Origami Juke features the same bold design cues – such as the wheel fenders, lights and grille – that give the real-life model its distinctive character.

Artist Owen Gildersleeve said: “This was a great project to work on – hard work but very rewarding. As a celebration piece it draws on so many influences, such as the origami focus inspired by Nissan’s Japanese roots. Using so many individual pieces of paper to create the overall structure also represents the thousands of people who helped bring the Nissan Juke into reality and the thousands who continue to do so right here in the UK.”

The Nissan Juke’s bold, standout styling has been a key factor in the model’s success. Nissan created a brand new ‘compact crossover’ sector with the launch of the car, offering motorists something completely different, in terms of design, to any other vehicle on the road.

The Juke, which is built in Nissan’s plant in Sunderland, reaches its fifth birthday this year. Since first deliveries began in October 2010, more than 150,000 Juke models have been sold in the UK alone, with over 700,000 total sales across Europe, making it the continent’s best-selling compact crossover.

The Juke’s longer-term future in Britain was recently secured when Nissan confirmed that the Sunderland plant would produce the next-generation Juke benefiting from a further £100 million investment in the Sunderland facility and securing the plant into 2020.

Darryl Scriven, Design Manager at Nissan’s Design Centre for Europe, said: “The first step of any car design involves putting pencil to paper. From that simple start, it’s a complex journey to production involving hundreds of skilled people, thousands of man-hours and millions in investment. So we think it’s very apt that on its fifth birthday, we celebrate the Nissan Juke with a tribute that harks back to that simple, but bold, first step, all carried out with Nissan’s signature innovation and excitement of course.”

The Origami Juke is revealed as ‘World Origami Days’ are celebrated across the world between 24^th October and 11^th November.

New artwork from artist Josh Stika and Vauxhall Motors revealed in Shoreditch.

‘Josh Stika for Vauxhall ADAM: Every One’s An Original.’

Contemporary British artist Josh Stika today revealed his latest striking street artwork in collaboration with Vauxhall Motors.  Following his three month solo show at The Hoxton Hotel and two seasons designing for ASOS and Boxfresh, Stika goes back to the Shoreditch streets.

His latest work sees his signature intense use of colours create a graphic swirl on the wall of Sclater Street near Brick Lane (E1 6HR), which stretches and merges onto Vauxhall’s ADAM ROCKS AIR, creating an all-encompassing optical illusion art piece from certain vantage points.

The collaboration with Vauxhall Motors takes Stika’s and Shoreditch’s street art one step further. The ADAM, ADAM ROCKS and ADAM S can be customised in a million ways through colours, decals and foils, a true expression of someone’s personality.  

Stika used his iconic style of graphic and typography artwork to paint his personality onto the wall and car, which when viewed from the correct angle become one – merging the car and the wall.

Speaking on the project Stika said, “East London is now recognised as the home of British street art, the walls are covered with fascinating works from amazing artists from all over the globe. I love the healthy competition this has created, with every artist trying to produce something bigger and better each time. 

Having worked within the graffiti scene for the past 15 years I welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with Vauxhall and challenge myself further. The brief simply being to put my personality on the ADAM really allowed me to create something stand-out, and engage with the car in my home environment of the streets of Shoreditch.” 

The striking artwork will be parked on Sclater Street, between Brick Lane and Boxpark, until Saturday 30^th May 2015.

Kate Oyler, Manager, Brand Communications, said, “It’s great for Vauxhall Motors to collaborate with someone as talented as Josh.  Cars are integral to the cityscape, so we challenged him to include the ADAM ROCKS within his piece to showcase that every ADAM is truly an original. Head down to Sclater Street and see it for real.”

The ADAM ROCKS AIR is the ultimate mini-crossover priced from £14,995.