The Golden Ratio is a mathematical ratio often found in nature, art, and design. It gives the world around us composition and symmetry that, for reasons we don’t fully understand, we find beautiful. It appears in the spiral of a seashell, the uncurling of a fern, and many other natural structures. When applied to the arts, it becomes a tool for creating balanced, organic works.
The Golden Ratio can be heard in the arrangements of Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach. It can be felt in the syllabic patterns of Sanskrit poetry. It can be seen in the works of artists and architects from Salvador Dali to Frank Lloyd Wright. It can even be applied in your day to day life by framing a portrait using photography’s “Rule of Thirds.”
The Blackwing 55 celebrates the Golden Ratio. It’s a reminder to slow down and savor the beauty around us. Each pencil contains Blackwing's balanced graphite and features a design inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, a series of numbers that approximate the Golden Ratio. The width of each color block is the sum of the widths of the previous two color blocks: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, & 55. Blackwing designed it in millimeters and then scaled the design up to 1:1.175 ratio to fit the canvas of the pencil. A simple formula with a magnificent result.
Made in: Japan
Materials:California cedar, graphite, metal ferrule, elastomer eraser
Specifications: 8" long each; available in a box of 12
Further Reading: Every pencil is made of graphite and wood. Only Blackwing pencils combine the best graphite in the world, the best wood in the world, and generations of craftsmanship to create an exceptional pencil. When you’re looking for the perfect pencil to write a song, sketch a landscape, or brainstorm a business idea, look for Blackwing’s distinct rectangular eraser.
Blackwing's Volumes packs are released quarterly and feature limited edition pencils that celebrate the people, places and events that have defined our creative culture over time.
View our entire collection of Blackwing pencils and accessories here.
Read about the rebirth of the iconic Blackwing pencil in "Back in Blackwing", The New Yorker.
