Root and Line was born on the Berkshire trails during a special Williams College tradition called

Mountain Day. October had settled into the mountains, where leaves were on fire with color and the air

alive with laughter from other hikers. One of us was journaling, tracing the lines of trees and the

energy they carried. The other was studying the tree's bark, the thickness of its trunks, the way

each groove held years of history.

Then, in a short moment, the pencil slipped from the notebook and tumbled down the edge of the

trail, disappearing into the forest. Its loss felt strangely heavy. We wished it had lasted longer or

at least returned something to the place it came from.

That moment made us question something we had never stopped to think of. Pencils had always

felt too basic to matter. Cheap. Disposable. We were taught that innovation meant complexity,

and that luxury had to be loud. No one asked why an object so essential to thinking, creating, and

remembering was designed to be temporary.

That hike changed our perspective. A pencil deserves the same care as the ideas it carries, and

the same respect for the environment it comes from. Root and Line is built on complete

sustainability, from material to meaning. Each pencil is crafted from responsibly sourced wood

and contains tree seeds within it, so when it reaches the end of its life, it does not disappear, it

returns to the forest. Our first pencil, and our first place, comes from where it all began: the Berkshires

of Williams College.