About us
Where does the name Balaguère Studios come from?
Those from the Pyrenees, or mountain hiking enthusiasts may not be surprised to learn that the Balaguère is a wind. It is born from differences in air pressure between Spain and France. This European wind is the keystone of our commitment and our ambition to expand the customization of mechanical keyboards across the Old Continent, regardless of your language layout.
While our project begins with the dye-sublimation of PBT keycaps, our team has no shortage of ideas to gradually expand our product range…
Where does the name Balaguère Studios come from?
Those from the Pyrenees, or mountain hiking enthusiasts may not be surprised to learn that the Balaguère is a wind. It is born from differences in air pressure between Spain and France. This European wind is the keystone of our commitment and our ambition to expand the customization of mechanical keyboards across the Old Continent, regardless of your language layout.
While our project begins with the dye-sublimation of PBT keycaps, our team has no shortage of ideas to gradually expand our product range…
The driving force behind the project
The vast majority of European countries have their own keyboard layout (AZERTY in France, or QWERTZ in Germany, to name just two). However, most products related to custom keyboards are designed for the ANSI-US layout (American QWERTY), which is more widely used internationally. Since this layout is not adapted to our languages or the accents we use, it constitutes a real obstacle to accessibility for Europeans.
It is based on this observation, which we have experienced ourselves, that our project took shape. With our on-demand sublimation system, we can easily adapt to the layout you want, while offering customization options, different keycap colors, and exotic designs.
Who are we ?
Balaguère Studios is a small team of three engineers, Julien, Joseph, and Alexis, with different specializations: materials science, industrial engineering, and software engineering. Before embarking on this journey, we had the opportunity to work in aerospace on rockets and satellites, in logistics optimization for water-related solutions, and in defect detection on miniature digital screens.
Friends for many years now, we have been discussing this project since we finished our studies! Outside of work, we have a wide range of interests: motor sports, astrophotography, book collecting, science fiction, piano, tennis, and rock climbing.
Who are we ?
Balaguère Studios is a small team of three engineers, Julien, Joseph, and Alexis, with different specializations: materials science, industrial engineering, and software engineering. Before embarking on this journey, we had the opportunity to work in aerospace on rockets and satellites, in logistics optimization for water-related solutions, and in defect detection on miniature digital screens.
Friends for many years now, we have been discussing this project since we finished our studies! Outside of work, we have a wide range of interests: motor sports, astrophotography, book collecting, science fiction, piano, tennis, and rock climbing.
The equipment behind keycaps : the sublimation oven
The sublimation process is the core of the creation of our keycaps sets, allowing us to add color and characters to the keycaps. As we mainly address a European clientele, we felt it was important that as many stages of the manufacturing process as possible be carried out on the Old Continent. Likewise, we also attach importance to the origin of the tools we use. With this in mind, we chose to develop our own keycaps sublimation machine rather than importing it from thousands of miles away from our workshop.
Developing a process ourselves is a real challenge, and that’s what makes the project so exciting for us! Dye-sublimation is very sensitive to small variations in temperature, cycle time, or even applied pressure, and that’s what makes designing a dedicated machine so interesting. Having full control over the parameters allows us to continuously improve our tooling and, therefore, the quality of the keycaps we manufacture.
What now?
Balaguère Studios is starting out with two offers: the Configuration Studio, allowing you to customize your very own keycaps set, and The Wall, which showcases our original designs. This is just the beginning: our goal is to regularly expand our catalog, with both new colors in the configurator and unique creations born from our imagination… or yours!
What now?
Balaguère Studios is starting out with two offers: the Configuration Studio, allowing you to customize your very own keycaps set, and The Wall, which showcases our original designs. This is just the beginning: our goal is to regularly expand our catalog, with both new colors in the configurator and unique creations born from our imagination… or yours!
