Volume 3

The Blackwing Volume 3 - The Ravi Shankar Pencil

In June of 1966, George Harrison met maestro Ravi Shankar in Bath, England. Harrison asked Ravi to teach him how to play the sitar, as task Ravi agreed to only after considerable hesitation. Their collaboration resulted in an explosion in the popularity of classical Indian music and instramentation in the United States and around the world.

Harrison called Ravi "The Godfather of World Music". Trained in both traditional Hindustani music and classical European theatre, Ravi was an artistic genius who influenced countless artists around the world. He infused structure and spectacle into Indian instumental music and introduced the West to Indian traditions like mediation. He was a true ambassador of India's rich culture of mindfulness that extended well beyond the stage. 

The Blackwing 3 was released as a tribute to Ravi Shankar on his 100th birthday. It features a matte tumeric finish accented with a pattern inspired by one of Ravi's iconic sitars. The pattern prominently features the symbol Om, a sacred Sanskirt symbol with three phonetic components that correlate to the waking, dream and unconscious states of being. The Om was an important symbol to Ravi, and served as a constant reminder of the contemplative, spiritual nature of his music. Translated from Hindi, Ravi means "sun", and his pencil's gold imprint and ferrule are a mediation on the light he brought into the world through his music and spirit.

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Blackwing pencils were favoured by award-winning creators throughout the 20th century. Despite a cult following, they were discontinued in the 1990s. Devotees began paying as much as $40USD on eBay for a single pencil.

Cal Cedar aquired the brand in 2010 and brought it back for a new generation of artists, musicians, and everday scribblers looking to unplug and live more mindfully.