Rolls-Royce has created five Black Badge Cullinan Private Commissions with contemporary artist Cyril Kongo, turning interior veneers, leather and the Starlight Headliner into individual canvases. The cars were curated through the marque’s P
Rolls-Royce has created five Black Badge Cullinan Private Commissions with contemporary artist Cyril Kongo, turning interior veneers, leather and the Starlight Headliner into individual canvases. The cars were curated through the marque’s Private Offices in New York, Seoul and Goodwood for a small group of collectors.
Each Cullinan is an individual artwork
The five commissions share a common creative idea, but Rolls-Royce says each receives a distinct expression of Kongo’s visual language. Hand-painted wood and leather surfaces carry the artist’s colour and graphic motifs through a cabin that would normally be defined by quieter Bespoke materials.
This is closer to commissioning an artist and a manufacturer together than ordering a conventional special edition. The collector participates in an object that sits between functional luxury, contemporary art and automotive craftsmanship.
The artist worked inside the Bespoke process
Kongo collaborated directly with Rolls-Royce designers and craftspeople at Goodwood rather than supplying artwork to be reproduced later. The project includes hand-painted Starlight Headliners, painted woodsets and his signature tag motif translated into embroidery, treadplates and exterior details.
That direct collaboration matters because it preserves the irregularity and hand of the artist. It also gives Rolls-Royce craftspeople the challenge of integrating expressive art into surfaces that still have to meet automotive standards for finish and durability.
A new Gradient Coachline appears outside
The project introduces the first Rolls-Royce Gradient Coachline, with exterior colour transitions linked to brake-calliper and interior accents. The treatment lets the art influence the body without turning the exterior into a full mural or graphic wrap.
That restraint keeps the vehicles recognisable as Black Badge Cullinans while signaling that each car belongs to a much smaller collecting programme. Owners receive differentiation that is visible, but the most detailed work remains inside.
Private Offices become collecting salons
Rolls-Royce developed the commissions through its Private Offices in New York, Seoul and Goodwood. These spaces increasingly function less like conventional showrooms and more like commissioning salons where clients can develop complex projects with designers and craftspeople.
For superyacht owners, the model will feel familiar because it resembles the custom design process used for interiors, tenders and art programmes aboard large yachts. The car becomes another bespoke object within a broader collecting ecosystem.
Official sources: www.press.rolls-roycemotorcars.com.