That Bitchumen', man!

Bitumen! It's not just for roofing or mummification anymore!
Laura Jungmann, a student at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, has created her FORMLOS collection using bitumen as a medium. Laura wanted to create objects that weren't defined by current trends. Her bituminous objects are "completely removed from the fate of up-to-the-minute style because it is constantly changing." As long as her objects are refrigerated, they stay solid as they were formed. As soon as they are put on display, the bitumen very slowly starts to "melt" and change form due to gravity and the high viscosity aspect of the material. It is so slow that you won't really be able to see it in action. So for instance, the pendant in the picture above will start with a cylinder of bitumen at the top.

Then after a very long while it will look like this...

Then eventually it will look like the photo at the top, dripping all over your hardwood floors.

I think part of concept that she claims "bitumen creates metamorphosis, and consequently avoids the temporary nature of current design" falls apart a little bit when you consider once the object has completely "melted" it was really a temporary object. Unless of course a puddle of tar-like substance is also a desired object. 

You can see more of her objects melting as well as some time lapse videos here or here.