Surrealist artists used an exercise known as Exquisite Corpse to create collaborative poems and works of art composed of pieced-together words and images. We used that same exercise to design a pencil.

First, we separated the pencil into five components (graphite, lacquer, imprint, ferrule, eraser). Then, we blindly selected the design for each component and assembled the results. The finished pencil features a rose barrel, teal imprint, silver ferrule, blue eraser and our extra-firm graphite.

The Blackwing Volume 54 pays tribute to surrealism and creative exercises that force us to look beyond our narrow personal perspective. The number 54 is a nod to 54 rue due Chateau in Paris, the birthplace of Exquisite Corpse.