Buzz
Huyen Thu (Hanoi) offers personalized keyboard buttons tailored to each customer's unique style, crafted from various materials such as silver or bronze, with a hefty price tag. Huyen Thu sells to both domestic and international customers through various e-commerce platforms.
Dao Thi Huyen Thu (Hanoi) started crafting a keycap (keyboard button) from metal about 2 years ago. She didn't know that this unexpected idea would lead to a business opportunity for a product 'no one in Vietnam has to sell' later on. Specifically, Thu provides personalized keyboard buttons tailored to each customer's unique style, which can be made from various materials, with a fairly high price tag.
Currently, a 9X girl with the nickname Hien Hien is famous across international online markets for her talent in creating unique keyboards. Few know that, 5 years ago, this architecture graduate opened a store producing and selling handmade brooches with a determination to create the most unique products.
In 2020, a trend emerged in the technology world for high-end mechanical keyboards. Unlike conventional keyboards, each keycap on a mechanical keyboard is equipped with a unique structure often called a switch, with each key using a vertically placed spring. Mechanical keyboards provide users with a light, smooth typing feel with good responsiveness. Importantly, mechanical keyboards are more expensive than regular keyboards, ranging from several times to several tens of times.
Many people have a hobby of collecting mechanical keyboards, and at this time, they want to personalize their belongings by changing the appearance of the original keycaps. Some choose to buy multicolored caps sold online for a few hundred thousand dong, but many are willing to buy silver or bronze keycaps worth up to tens of millions each as a way to demonstrate their class.
Recognizing a high demand in the niche market but few sellers, Huyen Thu came up with the idea of specializing in keycaps and introducing them as the first exclusive handmade product in Vietnam.
Huyen Thu crafts keycaps using silver, bronze, and aluminum, featuring various themes ranging from self-portraits, cartoon characters, to landscapes and wonders of the world. Representations of Vietnam are also incorporated into each artwork such as One Pillar Pagoda, Turtle Tower, lotus flowers, and more.
The keyboard buttons are intricately crafted with meaningful content.
Firstly, Thu designs the model and sculpts the product on wax specifically for precious metals, then proceeds with casting and finishing the product. The final step involves placing it under a microscope to perfect each keycap for the customer.
Typically, after casting, the keycap needs machining and polishing again, and tiny details may require the use of a microscope for easier embellishment.
Apart from creating beautiful keycaps, ensuring product durability is also a concern for Thu. 'The most challenging part of making keycaps is the base. Because keyboards are made of plastic, prolonged contact with metal buttons can easily scratch, wear out, and misalign. Therefore, I had to research how to develop a base that simply requires removing the original button and attaching a new one, making it as simple and effective as possible,' Thu shared.
Sitting inside the shop serves as both a place to sell and display finished products, as well as a place to process new raw products. This is why customers from both within and outside the country can appreciate Huyen Thu's products. Looking through the microscope, beneath are Thu's hands moving deftly, perfecting the final details to produce the most exquisite keycap.
Being entirely handmade, the price of each metal keycap made by Huyen Thu is not cheap. On average, to own a product, customers must spend from 1 million to 10 million dong. Not only serving domestic players, Huyen Thu also decides to sell keycaps in the foreign market through online distribution channels such as Facebook, Etsy, Amazon... Buyers come from all over the world, from Asia to Europe, and America, helping Thu sell about 100 products per month.
Huyen Thu most remembers a foreign customer who once requested a keyboard entirely changed with 158 buttons (including 30 copper buttons and 128 silver buttons), crafted with 2D image forms with the theme of the customer's homeland. It took Thu 4,500 hours to complete the product, and she earned 200 million dong from that order.
In the future, Huyen Thu aims to create products that combine various materials, applying many new techniques to make the product more diverse, rich, and meet every customer's preferences. In addition to manufacturing, Huyen Thu also develops a new line of carved keycaps. With the criteria of 'unique - beautiful - rare', the new products promise to bring a new breeze to this hobby.
