Latest news with #ChloeDowsett
Top Gear
03-07-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
'We're not the taste police': meet Chloe Dowsett, the specialist artist at Rolls-Royce
Interview When it comes to bespoke project requests, if you want it, you can have it Skip 6 photos in the image carousel and continue reading "There's bespoke and there's bespoke ... and there's complete one-off bespoke, which is where we fit in.' Chloe Dowsett is demonstrating how she provides Rolls-Royce's clients with the most bespoke interior detailing service since someone ushered Michelangelo into the Sistine Chapel and asked 'Reckon you can make this gaff look mint?' In minutes she turns a chalk outline into the most vivid 2D kingfisher we've ever seen, so lifelike that it might leap off its leather canvas and flitter around the room. Chloe works in the interior trim centre in a super-secret studio deep within Rolls' Goodwood HQ, off limits to prying eyes and, er, Top Gear photographers. To understand how she wound up there, we need to rewind. Born into a creative family, Chloe spent her childhood painting, drawing and sculpting. Yep: if you dream of being a master craftsperson for the world's most luxurious car brand, start with papier-mache. She was on Neil Buchanan's kids TV classic Art Attack , and her certificate for it hangs next to that of her art degree at home. 'They are equally as important.' Too right. Advertisement - Page continues below After her studies followed a string of jobs that took her as far afield as New York, and as niche as writing gags for a CGI reboot of The Wombles as one of the project's storyboard artists. She later started her own business doing everything from murals to signwriting, but began to panic she was saying 'yes' to work that didn't represent her as an artist. 'A fine artist wants to prove a point,' she explains. 'You're like a scientist. There's an intention. You have an idea and you want to create something out of it.' Photography: Tom Barnes You might like That led her to Rolls, initially sewing seats on the production line, and then on to the small team led by the acclaimed Mark Court, whose freehand coach lines have made him a cult hero. Because nothing else says Rolls like having one man to meticulously hand-paint pinstripes. Although, when he started the company made a few hundred cars a year; these days it's around 6,000. New recruits were inevitable. 'Coachline's like his baby,' says Chloe. 'He's so proud to be there and he wants it to be the best.' So like an old-school apprenticeship she studied him for months, getting hands on only occasionally at first and then more frequently as she earned his trust. Chloe was used to using 10 per cent of a brush tip for her own art, but Mark taught her to lay the whole thing onto the car's surface. 'Which felt so alien,' she explains, while inside thinking 'How dare you tell me how to hold a paintbrush! Advertisement - Page continues below 'But you do, you have to push it all the way down to the bristle and pull it along so it almost pulls itself.' It sounds like trying to copy someone's handwriting. 'It's worse! There's no two goes at it. You can't practice on the side of a car. There is a lot of pressure.' We've got painters now, so let's celebrate translucency, accidental marks, brushstrokes Chloe emerged with flying colours, absorbing Mark's sense of care and tradition in the process. 'In my new job they call me the paintbrush police,' she says of her scrupulous cleaning regime. 'But how cool would it be in 30 years if I've got the brush I started with?' Very cool. And very Rolls. So, the new job: if you want to treat the inside of your Phantom as the world's most sophisticated blank canvas, Chloe is who you call. She can turn her hand to almost any leather surface inside the car, from tiny embellishments to full headliners. They get all sorts of requests – including pet likenesses, because of course – but Rolls doesn't judge. 'We're not the taste police,' Chloe insists. 'If you want it, you can have it.' Fido on the glovebox, anyone? Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Leather is stretchy, so Rolls spent years developing techniques with an acrylic paint that's applied before the leather's protective coating, for maximum durability. Its waxy surface means it absorbs the paint, but not to the point you lose the colour. Which is the same wet as it is dry. Easier to visualise, you see. The skin is textured, and ripples as it's painted, something that's now second nature to Chloe. 'If I painted on paper it'd be strange.' While Rolls' designers will often simply hand Chloe some requests and let her crack on, she does meet some customers to give her input. 'The percentage of artistic license we have is increasing all the time. You're buying into what we are able to do... and then you have to look at it every single day. 'If you want something abstract, let's celebrate paint because if you're doing something neat, you could print it. You could laser etch it. You could embroider it. We've got painters now, so let's celebrate translucency, accidental marks, brushstrokes. That's what's great about painting, all painted cars are a one-off.' Chloe doesn't think she'll get bored any time soon, and can see herself taking on 'the whole process' from concept to application in the future. 'Ideally I'd bring my own artwork in and maybe do a car that was my own design. That'd be great.' You could call it the ultimate in creative freedom. Which is what all artists crave, right? 'One hundred per cent. Always. It's such a curse.'
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
The question all locals are asking after ex-Cyclone Alfred
As ex-Cyclone Alfred approached Australia's east coast, more than 1.5 million sandbags were distributed across Queensland and NSW. Now the system has passed, one council has issued a warning not to simply empty them into the environment. With erosion a noticeable issue on 500km of coastline from the Sunshine Coast to Coffs Harbour, some locals thought emptying sand onto beaches would help. But Byron Shire Council has advised doing so could be highly damaging. Related: Ex-Cyclone Alfred uncovers two shipwrecks over 100 years old in Australia Its biodiversity officer Chloe Dowsett said council has received many queries about what to do with the sand, and dumping it on the beach is not the answer. Instead, it's asked residents to hang onto them for two weeks in case there is another extreme weather event, and until a disposal plan is finalised. 🐣 Once common Aussie bird among 21 new species facing extinction 🐊 Aussie fisherman searches for three-metre crocodile after spear attack 😳 Satellite photos reveal 'disturbing' change to iconic Aussie landscape 'Sand can be dirty and contaminated from flood or stormwater with weeds, pests and even chemicals posing an environmental risk for marine life and the birds and insects that live in the dunes and on our beaches,' she said. 'While it's likely most sand for bags has come from quarries and is clean, we don't know for sure so the best thing to do is to not inadvertently contaminate our already depleted beaches.' As the system approached the coastline on Saturday morning, it was downgraded from a cyclone to a tropical low. But the storm has been highly damaging in southeast Queensland and northern NSW. On Monday, 238,000 homes and businesses were without power and emergency flood alerts had been issued. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
