Black Gold

Quintus Kropholler is an innovation consultant with a background in design and innovation. His focus is creating and maintaining green economies through social and environmental design.

In 2014, Kropholler created a series of bowls, vases, and furniture out of asphalt, entitled Black Gold. Asphalt is made of bitumen – the residue material from crude oil processing – and gravel. It is a finite resource, yet it is used almost ubiquitously, in tarmacs, roads, and car parks. Kropholler developed new types of asphalt with a different composition in the lab of Dutch construction company Dura Vermeer. He subsequently worked on these new types in collaboration with a team of stonemasons. Kropholler’s goal was to shift the perception of the material, which, unlike plastic and petrol, has a long life and will probably outlive its source. Kropholler also demonstrated that asphalt has an aesthetic value.