This Rolls-Royce Phantom Has Hummingbird Art Made From Dozens Of Pieces Of Abalone ShellJalopnikDaniel GolsonFri, September 18, 2026 at 6:25 PM UTCAdd us on GoogleRolls-RoyceI always love seeing the true artwork that comes out of Rolls-Royce, from the actual design and engineering of the cars themselves to the legitimate works of art inside the cars. The company has done everything from sculptural embroidery and incredible wood marquetry to the Milky Way painted on a headliner and an interior created by fashion designer Iris van Herpen. There's even a Phantom with a gold bar placed in the center console. But while Rolls-Royce's master artists and craftspeople have used mother-of-pearl in cars before, they had never done anything with actual abalone shell.Of course, there's a first time for everything, and this Phantom Extended is the first Rolls-Royce with marquetry created with abalone. Commissioned by a customer in Dubai for his wife, the car is called the Phantom Hummingbird because of all the hummingbird motifs inside and out. Rolls-Royce says hummingbirds are "a symbol of joy, resilience and the ability to find beauty in every moment," and as someone with a lot of hummingbirds in their neighborhood, I've gotta agree.Read more: What's Your Biggest Driving Pet Peeve?The wood had to be minutely examinedRolls-RoyceThe outside of the Phantom Hummingbird is really nice, but not all that interesting. Its upper body is painted in White Sands while the lower two-thirds are Wildberry, a really lovely color. There's a hand-applied coachline, of course, with a hovering hummingbird painted above the rear wheels. Thankfully the buyer went for the dish-style 22-inch wheels, which are by far the Phantom's best wheel option, and the illuminated crystal Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament.AdvertisementAdvertisementInside, the majority of the leather is Creme Light, with Moccasin sections and details like stitching and piping in Tan. Most of the wood is Ash Burr, but the picnic tables have some contrasting details made from Silver Birch, all of which were cut from the same log and then "minutely examined to ensure its grain pattern complemented the composition" to make sure they would look as perfect as possible. That was especially important because the picnic tables are one of the places where that abalone is used.It took 9 months to developRolls-RoyceBoth of the rear picnic tables feature the same motif of a hummingbird feeding on a flower. 53 individual pieces of abalone shell and mother-of-pearl were used on each one, with 18 pieces used just for the wings. Then, on the waterfall panel between the rear seats, a large piece of wood has an intricate botanical pattern made from 84 different pieces. Each piece was laser-cut 0.06 mm larger than the necessary size, leaving a burn margin for the razor, and then hand-filed. "Each individual edge is worked until it meets its neighbor with no visible seam – an essential step for certain elements – in particular, the hummingbird's wings, where only a human hand can achieve a suitably precise fit," said Rolls-Royce.Rolls-RoyceThe entire project was developed over more than 9 months, partially because abalone shell is "unusually fine and brittle," so it took a long time to figure out how it could all actually be done. The team went through six iterations before the technique was finalized, discovering that they had to "first reduce the thickness of the pearl and abalone, so that each fragment could be set gently but firmly into place, before being lacquered." It took 45 hours in total to create the three panels, with about half of that time for finishing touches after the pieces had been cut and fitted.Rolls-RoyceBut why use abalone when the car is inspired by hummingbirds? Well, the nacreous inner surface of the shells are light-refracting and iridescent, and about as close as you can get to the shimmering prismatic feathers of a hummingbird when it comes to materials found in the natural world that could actually be used in a car. (Rolls-Royce has used feathers in cars before, though.)AdvertisementAdvertisementWant more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and follow us or add us as a preferred search source on Google.Read the original article on Jalopnik.
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