It was brought to my attention some months ago that my relevance had been falling off due to my lack of involvement in the community. The person who proposed this is a good friend and someone I trust; they were also spot on.

About a year ago I started to feel a bit overwhelmed with it all, if I am completely honest. Some might also say I had a bit of imposter syndrome because I never really considered myself a full-fledged designer but it was a title that I was given by the community. I also felt a bit socially awkward and out of place due to my age vs the mean age of the community as I am an older Millennial/Xennial. This all kind of came flooding into me at once topped with countless hours spent collaborating, answering questions, and being present socially nearly every waking minute. It was draining, mentally exhausting, and the lack of sleep it was causing lead to physical exhaustion and health concerns.

I needed a break so I took it. I reinstalled CP77, one of my favorite games, and just lost myself in it for a few hundred hours to take a break from the endless hours of social engagement in the keyboard scene. Sadly, object permanence issues don’t just apply to objects but a vastness of other things, including people. Having “broken the cycle” of keyboarding/design I started to work on other passions of mine like 3D printing, my home, wrenching, and more. Before I knew it nearly a year passed and I became less relevant than ever in the keyboard hobby space.

Due to this lack of relevance, plummeting interest, and economic uncertainties caused by obvious reasons, I’ve found it difficult to “get back up on the horse”, so to speak. I still love keyboards but having found my perfect board in the Typeface Univers and the massive massive downturn in keyboard-related content creators out there and their associated audiences I’ve found it incredibly difficult to have the level of engagement I used to enjoy so much. I still love the community and the awesome people in it but current trends just don’t really resonate with me anymore. Hall-effect switches are awesome and I love where the tech is going but it seems to me that the majority of any new boards are A) not my preferred profile and B) minor deviations of previous iterations from large producers that I just simply don’t really find interesting. It’s just been hard to be overly enthusiastic about it, to be completely blunt.

What does that mean for me? Who the hell knows. I have hopes that interest will be renewed enough for me to come out with another switch project down the line. Until then, its just not cost effective for me to do anything right now with a new switch project. With Keebhut, my primary US vendor, shutting down it just leaves Custom Keyboard Co doing our hand lubed options, RNDKBD in Canada, and myself to service the entirety of the NA market. For one, I suck at being a vendor and its alot of stress for me. Its definitely not my forte and I’m just not equipped to handle it full-time. As much as I’d love do it all myself its just not in the cards and I don’t see any major US vendors jumping to pick up my projects with associated royalty fees when they themselves are already pumping their own designs. With all that being said, seriously go check out those previously mentioned vendors and show them some love. I couldn’t have pulled off 2 years of this and over 1 million units sold without them. 100%.

Right now I am kind of up to my neck in firearms intrigue and working on my vehicle, health, and home. I’ve invested heavily on all these fronts trying to find some sort of inspiration to get on that horse and I hope it comes soon. Until then, thank you all for your continued support as always and I hope this post finds you all well. In the end I am still here, still kicking, and still ready to throw out some fun ideas when the timing is right. Y’all stay awesome and if you want to leave some inspiring words, provide any insights, direction, or just talk some shit feel free to leave a comment. Thanks folks!

~Punk