Blackwing x TWA Hotel
Last November, while we were in Manhattan for the Hotel Experience trade show, I met a fellow named Tyler. Tyler was working on building a hotel in the old Trans World Flight Center at JFK International Airport. He was incredibly passionate about the project, and he painted a vivid picture of what the hotel would be when it opened its doors in May of 2019: a mid-century-inspired marvel complete with swooping architecture and minimalist charm, and Eero Saarinen’s iconic TWA Flight Center at its heart.
He said wanted us to make him a pencil to commemorate the re-opening of the New York landmark; a Blackwing x TWA HOTEL special edition inspired by the airline’s iconic branding. I love mid-century design and the history of aviation so, needless to say, I was hooked.
We got to work immediately. The TWA Hotel team invited me up to the 89thfloor of the World Trade Center to visit their offices and take a tour of the TWA Lounge. The Lounge, an event space and viewing platform inspired by the TWA terminals of the 1960s, is home to all sorts of vintage uniforms, advertising posters, and mid-century artifacts, and provided ample inspiration for the pencil we’d be designing together.
The result is a Chili Pepper Red Blackwing pencil, with a crisp white imprint, silver ferrule, and white eraser. The Blackwing x TWA HOTEL logo is imprinted on one face of the pencil, and the iconic TWA strips are subtle stamped on the opposite face. This collaboration features our balanced graphite formula that is perfect for sketching on the back of a cocktail napkin or filling in your luggage tag.
The Blackwing x TWA HOTEL pencil is available exclusively at the TWA Shop at the Hotel, and online at TWAhotel.com, where you can also read more about the history of this iconic brand.