About Us
Where does the name Balaguère Studios come from?
If you have ever hiked in the Pyrenees, the name might already ring a bell. The Balaguère is a wind, born from pressure differences between Spain and France. That European wind is the anchor of our mission: bringing custom mechanical keyboards across the old continent in our small way, whatever your keyboard language layout.
Our project starts with dye-sublimated PBT keycaps, but our team has no shortage of ideas for growing the range, one step at a time.
Where does the name Balaguère Studios come from ?
If you have ever hiked in the Pyrenees, the name might already ring a bell. The Balaguère is a wind, born from pressure differences between Spain and France. That European wind is the anchor of our mission: bringing custom mechanical keyboards across the old continent, whatever your keyboard language layout.
Our project starts with dye-sublimated PBT keycaps, but our team has no shortage of ideas for growing the range, one step at a time.
What drives the project
Most European countries have their own keyboard layout: AZERTY in France, or QWERTZ in Germany for instance. Yet, most custom keyboard products are still built around the US ANSI layout. American QWERTY may be the most common one internationally, but it is not suited to our languages, and that is a real barrier keeping Europeans from fully enjoying the hobby.
We lived that frustration ourselves, and it is what our project was built to solve. Our made-to-order dye-sublimation system lets us adapt easily to whichever layout you need, alongside a full range of customisation options, colours, and original designs.
Who are we?
Balaguère Studios is a small team of three engineers, Julien, Joseph, and Alexis, brought together by complementary backgrounds: materials science, industrial engineering, and software engineering.
Before this adventure, we were lucky enough to work in aerospace on rockets and satellites, in logistics optimisation for water-related solutions, and in defect detection for miniature digital displays. Very different worlds, but all demanding in their own way, and that same rigour is something we are committed to bringing to Balaguère Studios.
We have been friends for many years, and we were already talking about this project by the time we finished our studies! Outside of work, our interests run wide: astrophotography, book collecting, sci-fi, piano, tennis, and climbing.
Who are we?
Balaguère Studios is a small team of three engineers, Julien, Joseph, and Alexis, brought together by complementary backgrounds: materials science, industrial engineering, and software engineering.
Before this adventure, we were lucky enough to work in aerospace on rockets and satellites, in logistics optimisation for water-related solutions, and in defect detection for miniature digital displays. Very different worlds, but all demanding in their own way, and that same rigour is something we are committed to bringing to Balaguère Studios.
We have been friends for many years, and we were already talking about this project by the time we finished our studies! Outside of work, our interests run wide: astrophotography, book collecting, sci-fi, piano, tennis, and climbing.
The machine behind the keycaps: our own sublimation oven
Dye-sublimation is at the core of how we make our keycap sets, it is what gives them their colours and characters. Since we are building primarily for a European audience, it mattered to us that as much of the manufacturing as possible happens here, tooling included.
That is why we chose to design and build our own dye-sublimation machine, rather than importing one from thousands of kilometres away.
Building a process from scratch is a real challenge, and that is exactly what makes the project so exciting to us. Dye-sublimation is extremely sensitive to variations in temperature, cycle time, and applied pressure, which is precisely why a purpose-built machine matters so much. By keeping control over every parameter, we can keep refining our tooling, and with it, the quality of every keycap we make.
What’s next?
Balaguère Studios is launching with two offerings: the Configuration Studio, where you can design your own custom keycaps set, and The Wall, our collection of original designs.
This is just the beginning: we are committed to growing our catalogue regularly, with new shades in the configurator and unique creations born from our imagination… or yours!
What’s next?
Balaguère Studios is launching with two offerings: the Configuration Studio, where you can design your own custom keycaps set, and The Wall, our collection of original designs.
This is just the beginning: we are committed to growing our catalogue regularly, with new shades in the configurator and unique creations born from our imagination… or yours!
