THE FOUNDRY
Meet the Founder. Your Builder.
Yoru Foundry is personal by design. The person you speak with is the person thinking through the details, working at the bench, tuning the result, and deciding when a build is truly finished.
MIKE • FOUNDER / BUILDER
I have always needed to know why things work the way they do.
As a kid, I was curious about mechanisms, technology, and the way one part interacts with another. It did not matter whether the object was simple or complicated. I wanted to understand the reason behind the movement, the design, and the decision that made it work.
That curiosity followed me into computers, cars, electronics, and even software. One of my first real experiments was jailbreaking an iPod Touch and rebuilding the experience around what I wanted instead of accepting it exactly as it came.
WHERE KEYBOARDS ENTERED
The first time a keyboard felt like more than keys and plastic.
I grew up using inexpensive keyboards until I saw my cousin's Razer BlackWidow. It had USB passthrough, aggressive angles, an all-black design, intense RGB, and a sense of personality I had never associated with a keyboard before.
That was the first time I understood that a keyboard could be engineered, styled, customized, and made personal. It could be part tool, part technology, and part expression.
THE OBSESSION
Sound, feel, and the need to understand every variable.
I became obsessed with what makes one keyboard sound, feel, and respond differently from another. I ruined one of my first Razer boards trying to tape-mod it. Then I started buying boards intentionally for specific sounds and feels. Then came barebones kits, foam experiments, plate changes, aluminum cases, sound-deadening material, Hall Effect builds, mechanical builds, switch lubing, stabilizer tuning, and the endless cycle of taking things apart and putting them back together better.
One build used Kilmat automotive sound damping, a polycarbonate plate, and a hard-mounted Holy60 because I wanted to push a Wooting-style platform toward a sound and feel I actually enjoyed. Another build, a Holy80, became the first time I lubed switches and stabilizers myself. Hearing the result made the obsession permanent.
Over the years I have lived with almost every kind of keyboard sound profile. That experience matters to me because I do not want to recommend parts by spec sheet alone. I want to understand what a choice actually feels and sounds like when it is in front of you.
THE PROCESS
Building is where everything gets quiet.
For me, the process is therapeutic. I put on low, soft music, sit at the bench, and lock in. Research, assembly, tuning, problem solving, and hearing the final result all become one flow state.
I can be obsessive about details. If a set of stabilizers does not feel equally tuned, I will redo them. If the sound in my head is not the sound coming from the board, I will take it apart again. Sometimes the difference is as small as removing a little foam because the density, weight, or resonance feels wrong.
WHAT QUALITY MEANS
Quality is evidence of passion.
I do not separate quality from the person making the thing. When someone genuinely cares about what they are doing, that care shows up in the small decisions.
To me, a finished build says something about who I am. It reflects my standards, patience, curiosity, and the amount of attention I was willing to give it. In that sense, every Yoru build is an extension of me.
WHY YORU EXISTS
I do not want customers treated like a number on a margin sheet.
There are companies doing excellent work, but too much mass production is built around the assumption that the customer will not notice the difference. I do not like that idea.
Keyboards are tied to memories and phases of my life. I want Yoru Foundry to serve people who care about what they use, whether they are enthusiasts, gamers, professionals, complete beginners, or simply people who appreciate a well-made object.
If someone comes to Yoru Foundry knowing almost nothing but feeling curious, I want to be the person I wish I had when I first realized what keyboards could become.
THE COMMISSION
Your taste. My interpretation. One finished object.
I want the process to be collaborative, educational, transparent, and personal. You bring the idea, your preferences, and your taste. I bring the experience of turning those ideas into something physical you can touch, feel, and hear.
I also want to leave a Yoru mark on the result. Commissioning a build should feel closer to commissioning a piece from an artist than ordering a configuration from a catalog. Two artists can be asked to draw the same car and produce completely different work. The subject may come from the customer, but the execution still carries the hand of the maker.
REFINED BY CRAFT
Every step should earn the result.
“Refined by Craft” means the final object is not only judged at the end. Every step toward it should be handled with the level of craftsmanship the item and the customer deserve.
I also believe art exists far beyond the places we traditionally label as art. Paintings, music, photography, and film are obvious. But wherever passion shapes the details, there can be art. Passion is the driving force behind it.
Refined by Craft.
Passion made physical.BEYOND KEYBOARDS
The foundry is meant to grow with the craft.
Keyboards are the beginning because they are where my own path started and because the community is full of people who care deeply about sound, feel, design, and personalization.
Over time I want Yoru Foundry to explore original keycap releases, mouse components, mouse pads and desk mats, accessories, custom case design, and eventually our own PCB and software ideas.
If Yoru grows, I still want to remain part of the process. I may eventually work with like-minded enthusiasts I can teach and trust — and who can teach me in return — but I want to keep the spirit of the work close to the bench for as long as possible.
FIVE YEARS FROM NOW
Yoru Foundry is an extension of who I was, who I am, and who I am still becoming — built around passion, community, and creating art people can genuinely resonate with.Start a Commission