Cal Cedar Launches the Blackwing Experience

Cal Cedar Launches the Blackwing Experience

After more than 12 years off the market, Blackwing pencils are back.

The pencils have a storied history, with creative legends like Stephen Sondheim, Frank Lloyd Wright, Chuck Jones, and even John Lennon choosing the Blackwing as their preferred writing instrument. John Steinbeck went through 60 of them a day.

The pencils are famous for the quality of the graphite, iconic shape, replaceable eraser, and the memorable line “Half the pressure, twice the speed” embossed on the side in gold.

When Eberhard Faber ceased production in 1998 there was a scramble to buy them. Stephen Sondheim once said, “I use Blackwing pencils. Blackwings. They don’t make ’em any more, and luckily, I bought a lot of boxes of ’em.”

Fortunately for Sondheim, the Blackwing is back thanks to Cal Cedar, a sixth-generation pencil manufacturer with an updated version for the next generation of creators. The Palomino Blackwing, with its smooth and expressive black line, is the perfect pencil for visual artists. And the Palmoino Blackwing 602, with a slightly harder, longer-lasting graphite, is designed for wordsmiths.

To celebrate Blackwing history and inspire emerging artists, Blackwing has formed an exclusive group of 602 innovators. According to Garth Holsinger, VP of Business Relations for Klout, “These 602 will be among the first to be invited to a series of exclusive events and opportunities that honor the legacy of creative greatness that the Blackwing pencil has and will continue to make possible.”

In a handwritten letter to 602 creative innovators selected using the new social network platform Klout, Cal Cedar CEO Charles Berolzheimer simply stated, “My mission is to create a new generation of legendary Blackwing artists.”