Huntsman x Ron Arad x Morgan Motor Company

'Morgan Undercover'


Huntsman has collaborated with internationally renowned artist and designer Ron Arad to create a bespoke car suit, which is on display in the window of 11 Savile Row.


  https://youtu.be/pc2jzJdRZaw Huntsman has collaborated with internationally renowned artist and designer Ron Arad to create a bespoke car suit, which is on display in the window of 11 Savile Row. Inspired by the protection blankets covering cars in the street, Ron began sketching what he imagined to be the cars under cover, these sketches then woven into car covers. For his annual exhibit in the Royal Academy Summer exhibition, Arad collaborated with renowned car manufacturer Morgan about creating an art piece to cover one of their models. Thinking of the cover as a bespoke garment in this respect, Arad approached Huntsman, the most innovative tailor on Savile Row, to stitch the cover for the vehicle. Bringing the heritage of Morgan and bespoke tailoring process-perfected with Huntsman for over 170 years together. Masterfully cut and hand-stitched by Huntsman Head Cutter Dario Carnera, it was by far his largest and most unusual undertaking with Huntsman. Taking over 72 hours of skilled handwork, the size and weight of the fabric required a special kind of thread- traditional cotton stitching just wouldn’t support. Using leather thread, Dario applied the same style of baste stitching you’d expect to find on a bespoke garment, but on a much larger scale!   “Of all the projects I’ve worked on, this has been by far the most challenging, but also most rewarding! It was fascinating to see how translating Rons initial design into canvas and then into a pattern to be cut and stitched as you would a garment really brought it to life. Just as putting pattern to cloth requires a certain rock of eye, so too did creating this car cover, albeit with a completely different framework! ”  Dario Carnera, Co-Head Cutter Ron Arad created two identical car covers, to be cut and stitched together to create the finished blanket. The first challenge being to find an area large enough to accommodate the cloth! Once joined, the blankets filled the entire floor of the Huntsman Club Room. It was then that Dario had to navigate the intricate pattern of Ron’s design, to produce something that would come alive when placed over a car! Whilst Dario is well acquainted with creating bespoke garments for the human form, translating this skill into making a suit for a car was an entirely new experience.      To display the cover, Ron worked on re-imagining a Morgan car, using parts of old vehicles to create an installation piece that is of itself a work of art. The entire work, which was hand-painted and assembled in his workshop, then had to be deconstructed to transport to 11 Savile Row. Transforming the front of the shop into a display area, the stage was set, quite literally, for the car to be re-assembled in the window. The installation took a team of 4 skilled technicians, under direction from Ron to create. With authentic Morgan car parts finished in bold colours, the installation is a vibrant contrast to the traditional nuances of the shop interior and makes for a striking focal point along the street.     The collaboration between Huntsman, Ron Arad and Morgan is a reminder of the beauty and ingenuity of what can be created when tradition meets innovation and is a perfect example of the art of bespoke. Bespoke can be anything you’d like, whether it be a suit for yourself, or for your car. The car and cover will be on display in 11 Savile Row until October 17th, with the exclusive car cover available to purchase on request.