interview | ella lloyd

Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II.

West Sussex rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as the Cotswolds or Cornwall when British luxury travel comes up, and yet it may well have a stronger claim to the title than either. Driving somewhere without having to think about the route, the traffic or whether your car is going to complain halfway up a country lane becomes such a freeing sensation in these environments. Instead of looking at the road, you get to enjoy the changing landscape: the colourful hills and hedgerows take over the decorating, transforming the journey into just as much a part of the experience as the destination itself.

Schön! alive spent a full day immersed in Sussex, travelling in style with Rolls-Royce across some of the county’s most distinctive corners: starting at the marque’s Home of British carmaker in Goodwood, breaking for lunch at Chalk at Wiston Estate, continuing into the countryside for an overnight stay at Gravetye Manor and finishing among contemporary art and woodland at Goodwood Art Foundation.

With the harshest British summer ever beginning to fade, the parched, sun-bleached fields lining the road only added to the drama of our vehicle’s arrival. Driving the latest Black Badge Cullinan Series II in a velvety shade of maroon, the first stop was perhaps the least obvious place to think of as a tourist attraction – though it’s certainly one of the county’s more compelling destinations if cars, design and craftsmanship rank highly on your list.

While exploring the Whispers lounge, a private waiting and hosting space for VIP clients, it quickly became clear that this pocket of Sussex runs considerably deeper into automotive history than the factory gates suggest. Henry Royce himself lived in the area and something of that legacy still lingers in how the headquarters carries itself. The architecture sits within carefully maintained landscaping, with geometric planting and honeycomb-inspired detailing echoing the marque’s own design language.

Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan Series II.

The Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood is the sole place where every car is designed, engineered and hand-built, with more than 2,500 people working across the global headquarters and Centre of Luxury Manufacturing Excellence. Production here has followed an unusually considered rhythm since Goodwood began building cars in 2003, starting with the ‘Phantom’ before the ‘Ghost’ arrived in 2009, with further models following since. Around 6,000 cars are now sold globally every year, with each commissioned individually instead of being mass produced.

Clients visiting the headquarters get direct access to the design team, and the stories that emerge from those conversations say plenty about what personalisation actually means here. The Bespoke team has recreated colours drawn from flower petals, lipstick shades and other deeply personal references. One particularly memorable commission was inspired by a client’s golden retriever, Bailey, whose portrait was worked directly into the car’s interior.

Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II.

Rolls-Royce Black Badge Cullinan Series II.

‘Black Badge’, the brand’s darker, more expressive sub-series introduced in 2016, now accounts for roughly 40 per cent of client requests. Its interiors carry their own nod to Sussex too: the Placed Perforation pattern found across the seating takes its abstract form from the shifting clouds above Goodwood at twilight, a pattern that can contain up to 107,000 individual perforations.

The site itself continues to evolve, with a 40,000 square metre extension currently in development and due to become operational in 2029, while an internal link road already connects the existing premises to the new area under construction.

From there, the road points towards the South Downs and lunch at Chalk, the restaurant at Wiston Estate. Set at the foot of the Downs, Chalk draws its food directly from the surrounding landscape, working with produce from the Estate, neighbouring farms and the Sussex coast. It currently holds its place in the Michelin Guide 2026 and was named Restaurant of the Year at the 2025–26 Beautiful South Awards, with its Estate Menu shifting alongside the seasons.

After the precision engineering of Rolls-Royce, the drive towards Gravetye Manor introduces a very different register of luxury. Roads curl between fields and woodland, buildings thin out and the landscape feels increasingly removed from everyday life.

Gravetye Manor.

Gravetye Manor, an Elizabethan house sitting on the Kent, Surrey and Sussex borders, has spent decades building a reputation few English country hotels can match. In October 2024, it became one of the first UK properties to receive Two Michelin Keys, alongside its existing Michelin star, four Red Stars and four Rosettes – an award recognising architecture and design, service, character, value and the hotel’s relationship with its surroundings.

The house sits within nearly a thousand acres of woodland, framed by 35 acres of formal gardens shaped by William Robinson, one of the most influential figures in English horticulture. “The house is very old, but it’s set in this beautiful Sussex landscape. We’ve got just under a thousand acres all around the hotel, so you really feel like you’re leaving the everyday behind,” says Celine Leslie, the hotel’s Director of Sales and Marketing. “What we try to create is an oasis of peace and tranquility here, where the pace is slower and you just take the time to enjoy the finer things in life.”

Gravetye Manor.
Room Photography by Sarah Frances Kelley.

The setting is gorgeous, but the food has enough personality to hold its own. The elliptical kitchen garden supplies much of the produce for the restaurant, alongside orchards, glasshouses, a Peach House and poly tunnels. Ingredients grown on the property, paired with produce sourced from Sussex producers, give the menu a strong sense of place.

Dinner began with homemade mushroom and jalapeño brioche, followed by tomato tea with kitchen-garden herbs and a plate of red and black radishes with perilla and baby shallots. A variation of garden beetroots came with Sussex Slipcote, pistachio, lovage and iced horseradish, alongside a kitchen-garden courgettes with tempura and basil. Dessert continued the theme, with an elderflower sherbet, whipped Islands chocolate with maraschino cherries and tonka bean. Sussex wine also remains central to the experience. Leslie points to local producers including Ridgeview, Nyetimber, Rathfinny and Kingscote, noting that the county’s still wines are becoming increasingly compelling alongside its better-known sparkling bottles. A glass of Sussex Bacchus provided the perfect accompaniment to dinner.

The following morning, the route circled back towards Goodwood for a more immersive adventure. Goodwood Art Foundation occupies seventy acres on the Estate, where contemporary art sits among woodland, meadow and carefully shaped gardens. Its programme is built around three pillars – art, landscape and learning – making it the perfect spot for families, art aficionados and tourists alike.

The grounds, known as Schwarzman Gardens, were reimagined by landscape designer Dan Pearson using a naturalistic approach that responds to the edge of the South Downs. Artworks are presented across the galleries and landscape, with the programme changing throughout the year and giving each new work a completely different relationship to its setting.

left.
Yayoi Kusama, ‘Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart’ (2023) at Goodwood Art Foundation. Photography by Maria Bell / Courtesy Goodwood Art Foundation. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy David Zwirner, Ota Fine Arts, and Victoria Miro
right.
Café 24 at Goodwood Art Foundation, designed by Studio Downie Architects. Photography by Gennaro Costanzo.

The current summer programme includes Nancy Holt, Eva Rothschild, Yayoi Kusama, Lee Ufan and Hélio Oiticica. Rothschild’s ‘The Machine Stops’, a new tapestry created with West Dean College’s Tapestry Studio, brings geometric colour into the softer surroundings; meanwhile Oiticica’s ‘Magic Square #3’ pushes the idea of art as an active experience further still, inviting visitors to walk through vivid planes of colour.

Among the most instantly recognisable works is Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart,’ placed directly within the Sussex landscape. Most people travel specifically to see the sculpture and the visual contrast with nature is part of its appeal: Kusama’s work has appeared in botanical gardens and wilderness settings around the world, but seeing one of her enormous pumpkins surrounded by Sussex woodland gives it an entirely different character.

Hélio Oiticica, ‘Magic Square #3’ Installed at Goodwood Art Foundation, UK © César and Claudio Oiticica. Photography by Maria Bell.

Lunch at 24, the Foundation’s restaurant, continues the same conversation with the landscape. Designed by Studio Downie and set among the trees, the dining room opens towards woodland views and a terrace, with a menu drawing on seasonal and foraged ingredients alongside produce from Goodwood’s organic Home Farm. Artist Polly Apfelbaum’s ceramics and works on paper are also installed throughout the space, giving lunch its own artistic layer.

West Sussex may not shout about luxury in the way some British destinations do, but perhaps that is part of its charm. The best of it is tucked away in the landscape, connected by country roads that make the journey feel like part of the whole experience. After two days of gardens, art, good food and exquisite wine, getting back into the Rolls-Royce and putting on the music for the drive home felt like a pretty good way to end things.

Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II.

photography. courtesy of Rolls-Royce, Sarah Frances Kelley, Maria Bell
words. Gennaro Costanzo

The Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic and Louis Vuitton x Singer.

Whenever we think about travelling by car, the journey tends to begin with a small logistical crisis. There is the luggage to fit, the bags to choose, the questionable suitcase that has survived more holidays than it probably should and, eventually, the inevitable game of Tetris required to get everything into the boot. Louis Vuitton has spent more than a century making that part of travel considerably more elegant. This summer, however, the Maison appears to have looked beyond the luggage altogether.

After celebrating 130 years of its Monogram through a series of anniversary collections revisiting some of its most recognisable travel pieces, Louis Vuitton has taken its relationship with the road somewhere more unexpected. Partnering with Californian automotive atelier Singer, the French Maison has helped reimagine not the trunk you pack, but the car that carries it.

Two extraordinary Porsche 911s have been reimagined through the Maison’s particular interpretation of the ‘Art of Travel.’ The first is a vividly coloured coupé built around speed, engineering and the open road, while the other is a white, turbocharged cabriolet conceived with Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director of Women’s Collections, Nicolas Ghesquière, who has essentially given a classic 911 the lifestyle aspirations of a very expensive Riva boat.

Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic, Louis Vuitton x Singer.

Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic, Louis Vuitton x Singer.

But cars were not exactly how this whole project began – it was actually the idea of a new timepiece. “This unique and remarkable adventure began with a request for a dashboard clock for a car reimagined by Singer,” explains Jean Arnault, Louis Vuitton’s Watch Director. The collaboration quickly expanded into a complete rethinking of the vehicles, bringing together Louis Vuitton’s watchmaking, leatherwork, trunk-making, fashion and footwear teams with Singer’s obsessive approach to restoring and reimagining classic Porsche architecture. The resulting partnership is a first for both sides, with Louis Vuitton creating its first co-branded automotive project and Singer developing a car around the vision of another luxury house.

First up is the Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic, based on a Type 964 chassis and dressed in an unmistakable combination of saffron, cobalt blue and yellow. Beneath its lightweight carbon-fibre body sits a naturally aspirated, air-cooled 4.0-litre flat-six, paired with a six-speed manual transmission, rear-wheel drive and carbon-ceramic brakes. In other words, there is plenty going on beneath the very fashionable paint job.

Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer, Louis Vuitton x Singer.

The exterior also comes with a speed-activated rear wing and a bespoke luggage rack capable of carrying skis or a surfboard, which efficiently establishes the intended lifestyle. Inside, however, things become even more Vuitton than they already are. Vachetta leather, Monogram details, Malletage quilting, cobalt-blue surfaces and yellow stitching transform the cockpit into something between a grand touring car and an extremely exclusive piece of luggage.

Even the switches, knobs and gauges received the full treatment. Louis Vuitton’s designers reworked the instrument display using visual references from the Maison’s Tambour watch, translating its hands, indexes and finishes onto an automotive scale. A year of development reportedly went into getting those details right, and it was definitely worth the process. “It was important to remain faithful to the idea of a functional and useful vehicle. Beyond aesthetics, the car had to continue to express the emotional notion of travel, so deeply rooted in the DNA of Louis Vuitton, while preserving the purity, handling and technical integrity that define Singer,” says Octave Chany, Project Lead Designer at Singer.

Tambour dashboard clock, Louis Vuitton x Singer.

Tambour dashboard clock, Louis Vuitton x Singer.

At the centre sits the piece that started everything: a detachable mechanical dashboard clock inspired by the Tambour – perhaps one of Vuitton’s most recognisable watch collections. Made by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton in Switzerland, the clock can be removed from the car and placed on its own desk stand, allowing the journey to continue even after the engine has been switched off. It features manual winding, hours, minutes and small seconds, as well as an eight-day power reserve. There are, objectively speaking, easier ways to tell the time, but why not show off?

Once the coupé was complete, the project expanded again. Ghesquière stepped in to imagine a Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic Turbo, this time taking the form of a cabriolet with Calcaire Lutétien white bodywork, brown accents and an interior built around leather and precious wood. “Automotive design is a passion that has always lived within me,” Ghesquière says. “My collaboration with Singer has been a chance to reconnect with this fascinating world – a magnificent opportunity to explore truly exceptional automobiles.”

His version of the 911 takes inspiration from classic motorboats, combining a 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged flat-six with a six-speed manual gearbox and a whale-tail rear wing. The rear-opening luggage compartment reveals a teak-inspired wooden deck, while similar wooden details appear throughout the body and interior. 

The Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic Turbo, Louis Vuitton x Singer.

The Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – Classic Turbo, Louis Vuitton x Singer.

Naturally, two cars like these could not simply be left to fend for themselves without an accompanying wardrobe. For the Classic coupé, Louis Vuitton has created an exclusive capsule designed to mirror the car’s own materials and colour palette. A naturally grained leather racing jacket references details found on the seats and sun visor, while washed cotton-and-silk denim, perforated driving gloves (to die for, actually) and a carbon-and-glass-fibre jet helmet complete the look.

Footwear comes in two forms: the LV Rally, a dedicated driving shoe with LV initials and a rubber-pad sole, and the LV Remix Derby, a more everyday silhouette with heritage-inspired detailing. There are also key holders, document pochettes, watch cases and made-to-measure luggage, including the Horizon 55 cabin suitcase, the Keepall Bandoulière 50 and the Soft Trunk bags specifically shaped to fit inside the car’s front trunk.

For the Turbo cabriolet, Ghesquière extends the car’s white, wood and gold palette into a wardrobe that looks as though it has been pulled directly from the passenger compartment. The capsule includes a made-to-measure parachute-silk suit with raised V-shaped seams, braided leather driving gloves and the low-slung LV Sneakerina, finished in brown leather and off-white textile with its signature tucked discreetly into the side. 

The accessories follow suit, with gold and acetate sunglasses hiding a tiny Monogram Flower beneath one lens, alongside a cream carbon-and-glass-fibre helmet with a tan visor. Even the luggage adopts the same nautical-meets-automotive language, with pieces including the Alma Soft, Express MM, Noé and Petite Malle echoing the cabriolet’s wood, leather and gold detailing.  

Louis Vuitton x Singer.

Singer founder and Executive Chairman Rob Dickinson says the process allowed both sides to bring decades of specialist knowledge to the table. “The specifications chosen by Louis Vuitton exposed us to techniques and methods developed over decades of experience,” he explains. “They trusted us with their esteemed brand, their traditions and their vision and it was a joy to bring our two worlds together.”

The two cars were recently unveiled during Monterey Car Week, joining a long history between Louis Vuitton and the automobile that stretches from bespoke motoring trunks to the Louis Vuitton Classic Run rallies and the Maison’s old Design Award for concept cars. Still, this particular collaboration may be its most comprehensive automotive experiment yet.

After all, if you are going to take the scenic route, you might as well make sure the luggage fits perfectly.

Discover more about the new collaboration here.

photography. courtesy of Louis Vuitton
words. Gennaro Costanzo

Gianluca Caruso

The Formula E Tokyo E-Prix electrified Japan’s capital, transforming the city’s streets into a high-speed showcase of electric innovation and motorsport. Marking the championship’s first-ever Tokyo night race, the world’s leading all-electric racing series delivered fierce competition, dramatic moments and unforgettable action. Yet beyond the racing, Formula E serves a greater purpose: a proving ground where competition drives innovation. Schön! alive stepped behind the scenes in Tokyo to experience the energy firsthand and discover how lessons learned on the track are shaping Porsche’s next generation of electric road cars.

Porsche arrived in Tokyo with plenty at stake and left with another major milestone. Following a dramatic double-header, the manufacturer secured its second consecutive Formula E Manufacturers’ World Championship with one round still remaining in the season. Strong performances from Porsche-powered Andretti Formula E driver Jake Dennis, who claimed second and third-place finishes across the weekend, alongside valuable points from Porsche factory driver Nico Müller, helped seal the title. With the Drivers’ Championship still to be decided, the season finale promises an exciting finish.

Gianluca Caruso

But Formula E is about far more than trophies. For Porsche, every race is an opportunity to develop technologies that eventually make their way into production vehicles. Behind the team’s success is a philosophy that places equal importance on engineering excellence and human performance. In an exclusive interview, Florian Modlinger, Director Factory Motorsport Formula E and Team Principal of the Porsche Formula E Team, explained that while software, simulation and data analysis are increasingly important, the driver remains central to performance. The strongest results come from the close collaboration between driver and engineer, combining technical analysis with instinct, experience and real-time feedback.

Gianluca Caruso

That same collaborative approach extends beyond the racetrack. By developing its own hardware and software at Weissach, Porsche maintains complete control over the technologies powering its Formula E programme, from electric powertrains and energy management to software optimisation. This close integration allows innovations developed under the extreme demands of racing to transfer directly into future road cars.

Over the past seven years, Formula E has become one of Porsche’s most valuable research and development platforms, accelerating advances in electric performance, efficiency and charging technology.

The latest Porsche Cayenne Electric is among the clearest examples of that philosophy in action. Drawing on technology refined through the championship-winning Porsche 99X Electric Formula E car, the all-electric SUV benefits from advances in thermal management, software optimisation and energy efficiency developed under race conditions.
As Modlinger explains: “In Formula E, efficiency is the difference between victory and defeat. This principle also shapes the Cayenne Electric.”

One area where that influence is immediately apparent is charging technology. Formula E and Porsche’s electric road cars share the same Combined Charging System (CCS) standard, allowing developments in charging efficiency to benefit both racing and production vehicles. The Cayenne Electric is capable of charging from 10 to 80 per cent in less than 16 minutes, helping make long-distance electric travel more practical.

Gianluca Caruso

Energy recuperation is another area where motorsport expertise translates directly to everyday driving. The Taycan Turbo GT can recuperate up to 400 kW under braking, while the upcoming Cayenne Electric pushes energy recovery even further. In normal driving, around 97 per cent of braking is handled through recuperation, capturing energy that would otherwise be lost and returning it to the battery. The result is greater efficiency, improved range and a smoother driving experience.

The connection between Porsche’s race cars and road cars is visible long before the lights go out. Since May 2024, the Taycan Turbo GT has served as Formula E’s official Safety Car. Finished in exclusive Purple Sky Metallic, it is also the most powerful production Porsche ever built.

Gianluca Caruso

For Porsche, Formula E is far more than a racing championship. The message is clear: every lap, every data point and every technological breakthrough contributes to a deeper understanding of electric performance. As the automotive industry accelerates towards an electric future, the relationship between circuit and road has never been closer and Porsche is ensuring that the innovations born in competition continue to shape the next generation of performance cars.

Learn more here.

photography. courtesy of Gianluca Caruso 
words. Clara La Rosa