GMK Lazurite, an allusion to High Renaissance art and the value of the pigment ultramarine
Hello everyone! This keycap set is inspired by my curiosity about the color ’ blue ’ and my love for Renaissance art. 
This is my first time designing a keycap set so please bear with me.
‘Blue’ was an extremely expensive pigment in ancient times. In order to create this pigment, painters had to grind up the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli , and turn it into ultramarine , a deep blue pigment priced at the same value as gold during the Renaissance period . Ultramarine came from Latin “ultra marinus” which means “beyond the sea” as the lapis lazuli required to create the pigment is imported from Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Because of this, the pigment was only used for the most important subjects of paintings in Europe at the time. It became the hallmark of Renaissance paintings created by many historical painters of that period.
Latest Updates:
01/16/21
Skull Keycaps (PH) x GMK Lazurite Megalodon - Lazurite Raffle
January 18, 2021
10AM, GMT+8
Only 10 sculpts will be made!
Original instagram post: Skull Keycaps Megalodon - Lazurite Raffle News
01/10/21
-revealed artisan wrist rest collaboration with Artisan Labs (South Carolina, US)
-revealed artisan keycap collaboration with Skull Keycaps (Philippines)
Artisan Labs x GMK Lazurite Artisan Wrist Rests
Skull Keycaps x GMK Lazurite Megalodon Lazurite
12/26/20 - Set Colorway and Kits Explanation
As much as I want to offer the special Ultramarine x Gold base kit, I took a step back; went over the interest check forms, feedback from the community and reassessed everything. I have finally decided to be true to what inspired me to do this set. I know that people have different preferences and there are many great color combinations you imagine that will surely fit your taste but I can’t please every single one of you. But, please do know that I really appreciate those who have been sending me a message via Instagram, Facebook, Discord or other platforms regarding their feedback about this set and the color combinations they would like. I will now focus on minimal kit revisions, adding more renders and preparing the documents needed by GMK for price quotes.
Legends are kept to be minimal as well so I have chosen ‘text-only’ legends for modifiers to match the novelties (modern icons don’t look great with the novelties). Here is the summarized breakdown of how the set looks like in terms of colors:
For people who want minimal colors (ultramarine and white)
Lazurite (Base): blue alphas, white mods
Calcite (Alternate Alphas): white alphas
Lapis (Spacebars): blue and white
High Renaissance Blue (Novelties 2): blue on white
For people who would like to accentuate their keycap set (ultramarine and gold)
Pyrite (Accent): blue on gold, gold on blue
High Renaissance Gold (Novelties 1): gold on blue
I have chosen to add the gold spacebars for the 40s community so you can also have accents for other keycap sets you might have.
Ultra (Extension): blue on white, gold
If you have been following this set all along, thank you very much for the wonderful support you have shown for Lazurite! You’re the best!
Group Buy schedule: February 1, 2021
(ALL novelty designs can be made as per GMK)
Proxies
- EU: MyKeyboard
- US: Mechs&Co.
- CA: Deskhero
- Chile/South America: Fancy Customs
- Oceania (AU/NZ): Daily Clack
- CN/East Asia: zFrontier EN
- CN: zFrontier CN
- South Korea: Swag Keys
- SEA: iLumkb
Kits
Base: Lazurite
Ultramarine with a touch of white. Wide range of layouts support (including full-size, basic UK ISO, basic 40%, HHKB, WKL, Tsangan, etc.)
Inspiration: lapis lazuli’s lazurite together with a calcite marble
Alternate Alphas: Calcite
An all white, minimalist alternative to Lazurite’s ultramarine alphas
Inspiration: pure calcite marble with a touch of ultramarine
Spacebars: Lapis
Inclusion of 6.0u centered and off-centered, split bars and on a clean looking set of either Lazurite or Calcite
Extension: Ultra
40%/orthos support
Inspiration: the 40% community, no need for a deeper meaning, I would just like to give love to the community.
Accent: Pyrite
Enter and Esc accents included together with spacebars and arrow keys to give Lazurite a golden touch
Inspiration: golden flakes of pyrite accentuating lapis lazuli’s lazurite mineral
Novelties: High Renaissance
The idea is to create a paint frame which acts as ‘borders’ on 40%/orthos, 60%, 65%, 75%, 80%/TKL and full-sized keyboards. There is a kit 1 and kit 2 to match Lazurite’s base and Calcite kits,e.g. Lazurite (base) with High Renaissance Blue on White, Calcite with High Renaissance Gold on Blue
The ornamental novelties will serve as the paint frame’s corners. Let’s share the love and support for other layouts
High Renaissance (Gold) on Blue
High Renaissance (Blue) on White
Renders
60% board
Lazurite with High Renaissance Novelties (Blue) on RAMA WORKS M60-A
Calcite with High Renaissance Novelties (Gold) on RAMA WORKS M60-A
65% board
Lazurite on Reasonable65 (board by Rizwanislol)
Calcite with High Renaissance Novelties on Reasonable65 by (board by Rizwanislol)
80% board
Calcite with High Renaissance Novelties on RAMA U80-A
Desk Mats
Paint Frame - Ultramarine
Paint Frame - Calcite
Renaissance Ornament - Ultramarine
Collaborations
Artisan Keycaps
RAMA WORKS (TBD)
Primecaps Artisans (Canada)
KEYFORGE (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Golden Star Keycaps (Vietnam)
Archetype (TBD)
Zero Sky Keycaps (Philippines)
The Cloud (Arizona, US)
LandCaps (Indonesia)
Clarie Cuztom (Vietnam)
krapshop (Malaysia)
sandun (Korea)
DEAGcaps (US)
Buckeys! (Philippines)
Keebsake (Philippines)
ZappyCappys (US)
Bowbie Keycaps (US)
Skull Keycaps (Philippines)
Coiled Cables
Swift Cables
Artisan Wrist Rest
Resinboy Project (Philippines)
Artisan Labs (South Carolina, US)
Next Steps
- RAMA metal artisan designs (Esc and ANSI Enter)
- Finalize kitting
- Price quotation
- Artisan collabs sample presentation
- More renders
Geekhack thread: GMK Lazurite GH IC
NEW Interest Check form: GMK Lazurite IC Form
My Discord Server: Jaekid
Instagram: @jaekeyed
