New Vantablack Is More Expensive Than Diamonds
Vantablack is the new black — the color of exclusivity. It cost more than diamonds. If your name is not “Anish Kappor ,“ you can’t use it unless you are scientist. It is so exclusive, with a few exceptions, you can’t even buy it yet, but we expect the number and variety of offerings of Vantablack to expand soon. Vantablack is so exclusive, you can’t even see it. Vantablack absorbs almost all visible light — around 99.965%.
A Whole Lot of Nothing
What is Vantablack? Vantablack S-VIS, to call it by its full name, is not, strictly speaking, a color, nor is it a paint. It’s a material made of hollow carbon nanotubes, each an atom or so thick. A surface area of 1 cm square contains around one billion of the hollow nanotubes. A noted, it is quite expensive and nearly impossible to buy, but at least you do get a billion of something for your money.
As Lao Tsu observed — it is from non-being that utility arises. It’s not much to look at — in the sense that when light hits it, there is (mostly) nothing to see. Photons bounce around the tubes and turn into heat before they come back out. Being mostly composed of air, Vantablack weighs almost nothing, but it is also quite fragile.
You can see the amazing effect of utter blackness this new coating creates here:
Vantablack: Developed for Telescopes, Destined for Runways
Surrey NanoSystems developed the Vantablack S-VIS material to eliminate lens flare in telescopes. If the shields around the lens are coated in Vantablack, almost no light will be reflected back onto the lens, increasing the clarity of our view of distant stars. The military is also understandably enthusiastic about the prospect of near total invisibility, and Vantablack technology is available for the infrared spectrum as well.
For design purposes, the original Vantablack S-VIS is generally not available. The non-color has been licensed exclusively to artist Anish Kapoor, who took an interest and realized it’s amazing design potential early on, saying: “Imagine a space that’s so dark that as you walk in you lose all sense of where you are, what you are, and especially all sense of time.” We are intrigued! Here at Rascal, creating an environment that provides a transcendent and timeless experience is right in our wheelhouse.
Kapoor has applied Vantablack to one of the most exclusive watches ever made. We will be taking a look next week, so please subscribe if you are curious. Surrey has developed a second version of Vantablack that architect Asif Kahn will use to create a building for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea.
So far the material is quite fragile, but eventually we expect a version of the technology will be adapted to allow flexibility and make its way from the wrist to the runway. If you are looking for a Vantablack shirt or Vantablack dress, it will probably be a while before we see Vantablack clothing. And then we still won’t see it.
Art War — Black vs Pink
Pop artist Stuart Semple and the youngest artist to paint an official portrait of the Queen, Christian Furr, have commented on Kapoor’s monopoly on the new black. Both artists had planned projects using the new ultimate black. Pointing out that Turner, Manet, and Goya had all engaged in a search for the blackest of blacks, Furr objects: “We should be able to use it. It isn’t right that it belongs to one man.”
Semple piled on, releasing a new extreme fluorescent pink pigment, claiming it was the world’s pinkest pink. Semple said “”We all remember kids at school who wouldn’t share their colouring pencils, but then they ended up on their own with no friends. It’s cool, Anish can have his black. But the rest of us will be playing with the rainbow!”
Semple released the paint with the restriction that it must not be sold to Anish Kapoor. The black market works fast though, even with pink, and Kapoor got little fingers in that pie. Or more specifically, his middle finger, which he tweeted, coated in the pink paint, tagging Semple.
Commenting that the whole debacle had an air of performance art to it, Semple moved on, creating a new, affordable super dark pigment of his own that he calls “Better Black.” No claims are made as to is ability to absorb visible light.
Best in Class Black Available to Discerning Mortals
Surrey Nanonsystems, recognizing the explosive demand for the ultimate black for luxury goods, has come up with a new product they call VBX-1. VBX-1 is a very non-reflective paint that does not rely on nano-tech. Surrey says “The coating’s level of reflectance (in the visible spectrum) approaches that of Vantablack S-VIS so it’s more than capable of producing the infinite depth and void like forms where the viewer’s dimensional perception is challenged at every viewing angle.”
This video a rotating sculpture coated in Vantablack VBx1 demonstrates how it appears to be a featureless rectangle or a bust in profile depending on the angle from which it is viewed.
In addition, Surrey explains “The Vantablack VBx 1 absorber coating is a solvent based, pigmented coating dispersed in carrier solution.” We’re a little out of our depth here, but we think this more or less means “paint”. At any rate, VBx1 is not available for private sale, but Surrey will coat items for a fee.
Ring up Surrey and you can be the first on your block to get the new black. As far as we know, you could still be the first to have a Vantablack car (using VBx1). If you take the plunge, please don’t forget to turn on your lights, and send end us a photo. Or we can just close our eyes.
Join Us and Explore Luxury
We will be covering more interesting developments in the world of luxury travel and design in future articles, starting with a watch with invisible movements and a one of a kind Rolex dive watch coming up next week. Do you appreciate fine dining? Explore the culinary wonders and imaginative airy design of our top picks for restaurants in Bali worthy of a Michelin Star in our previous article. Please Follow and join us on our journey.
