Hummingbird Crafted from Abalone Shell: Rolls-Royce Unveils the 'Phantom Hummingbird'

[Financial News] Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has expanded the range of materials used in bespoke customization by applying abalone shell to an interior for the first time in the brand's history. The Phantom Hummingbird, commissioned by a customer as a tribute to his wife, is a one-off vehicle featuring hummingbird feathers rendered in abalone shell and mother-of-pearl. More than nine months were spent developing the techniques needed to apply the thin, fragile materials inside the vehicle.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars announced on the 17th that it had unveiled the Phantom Hummingbird on the 15th local time. Based on the Phantom Extended, the model was planned and built through Private Office Dubai, drawing design inspiration from the hummingbird, a symbol of joy and resilience.
The centerpiece is marquetry made with abalone shell. Marquetry is an inlay technique that creates patterns by fitting pieces together, and this is the first time Rolls-Royce has used abalone shell in the technique. The shell's inner nacre produces a turquoise hue when it catches the light. Combined with mother-of-pearl, it recreates the iridescent sheen of hummingbird feathers, whose colors change depending on the viewing angle.
The rear-seat picnic tables feature hummingbirds in flight. Each hummingbird uses 53 pieces of abalone shell and mother-of-pearl, including 18 pieces for the wings alone. The waterfall panel between the rear seats features a botanical pattern made from 84 pieces of the same materials.
To process the materials, bespoke designers, engineers and craftspeople developed a technique for cutting and finishing each piece before setting it into veneer, a thin wood layer. Development took more than nine months and involved six rounds of trials and revisions before the process was optimized.
Each piece was cut 0.06 mm larger than its final size to account for errors that can occur during laser cutting. Craftspeople then hand-finished the edges, fitting the pieces together so that the seams would not show, before applying lacquer. The hummingbird wings, made by interlocking multiple pieces, were also assembled by hand. Completing the two picnic tables and the waterfall panel—a total of three panels—took 45 hours.
The interior wood and colors were also coordinated with the abalone-shell decoration. Ash burr veneer was used as the background for the three marquetry panels. The silver birch used in the picnic-table patterns was cut from a single log to ensure consistency in the grain.
The seats combine Moccasin and Tan leather in Cream Light, while the floor is fitted with seashell-colored carpeting. The ceiling features Rolls-Royce's Starlight Headliner, which evokes a starry sky.
The exterior features a two-tone finish, with Wildberry on the lower body and White Sands on the upper section. A craftsperson hand-painted a White Sands coachline along the boundary between the two colors, and a hummingbird in flight was added to the vehicle's side.
Phil Fabre de la Grange, global head of bespoke at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said, "Nature has long provided abundant inspiration for Rolls-Royce bespoke, and our customers continually inspire us to interpret it in new and unexpected ways."
He added, "The Phantom Hummingbird presented designers and craftspeople with creative and technical challenges through the use of a new material, abalone shell. The result is a work that elegantly captures the hummingbird's distinctive and enchanting beauty."
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