Project
N°014
Name
Custom Artisan Keycap
Company
Threads
Date
2024
Role
Art Direction, 3D Modeling, Project Management, Web Design
Availability
Not Available
About
In June of 2023, I rendered a 3D illustration of a keyboard dressed in the product colors. It was shared on our social media accounts to imply that Threads is a writing tool —a medium for the message— and this writing tool is as simple and powerful as operating a keyboard.
Shortly after, Tim Van Damme of MVKB reached out, asking if we wanted to turn this concept into a reality. I said, "umm, yes!" and we collaborated with Salvun to individually create each artisan keycap by hand.
By December of the same year, we delivered each of these in a custom jewel case to every Threads employee as a functional memento of the product we launched together.
Custom Artisan Keycap
Salvun used a CNC router to machine each keycap out of solid polycarbonate. After each piece was bead blasted for texture and dyed purple, they received a hand-painted white resin infill for the Threads logo.
A jewel case was provided to suspend the keycap between transparent flexible plastic membranes to make the keycap look as if it was floating inside the box.
There are no set rules in terms of artisan shape or size, as long as it has a stem that can fit on one of the common mechanical switch types. We chose a Row 1 keycap in a Cherry MX profile, the most popular choice for first-time mechanical keyboard hobbyists. Here, you can see that I'm using it as the ESC key on my Keychrone Q2 Pro.
