GMK Shanshui 山水The long path home.Collecting final numbers. Thanks to everyone who joined!
Jagged peaks rise like the teeth of some long-fallen colossus from the horizon, worn to harmlessness by water, foliage, and time. A placid thread of water weaves among them. For ages, the water has borne rafts carrying silent, wizened men and their gently chattering companions: great, fearsome waterfowl perched on long bamboo canes. They are ancient cormorants, eyes smoldering like lanterns. Part duck, part eagle, part feathered hunting dog, they slip beneath the currents with hush and speed and return with throats full of wriggling fish, dutifully disgorging their catch for a treat and a gentle stroke.
In few places does man live in such harmony with nature; in few places is man so noble an animal. For those who have been to the Li River (Lijiang in Chinese), it’s unforgettable. For those who have not, they have surely seen the ghosts of the mountains and water conjured from memory and ink. Perhaps no other subject is depicted so often in
shanshuihua, the Chinese style of ink painting perfectly suited to capture the layered depth of the South China Karst and the reflections off the tranquil waters of the Lijiang. Literally “mountain-water-painting” in the Chinese, these words are immortalized in the local slogan of this stretch of the Lijiang between Guilin and Yangshuo: 山水甲天下, “the best landscapes under heaven.”
About the setGMK Shanshui is a white-on-black Cherry profile keycap set designed to capture both the enduring shanshui images of the Lijiang and the essence of the uniquely Chinese artform of shanshuihua, practiced by artists in China and around the world. Designed by Grundlemere of Fort Stevens Mercantile, conceived and rendered by NathanAlphaMan of Alpha Design.
Base keys are molded in GMK stock CR black, with legends rendered in crisp stock WS1, matching existing WoB sets and kits, and compatible with other monochrome Cherry profile keys. The base kit offers sublegends in Cangjie, while modifiers are rendered in both Simplified and Traditional Chinese + icons—the first GMK legends in true Chinese characters.
See a full gallery of board and scene rendersFollow me on IG @grundlemere for photos and project updates, and feel free to reach out on Discord at grundlemere#1126 with questions or to say hello. New:
join my Discord server for updates!
Production timelineProduction estimated at 36 weeks from order placement in February 2021, expected to ship from manufacturer in Q4 2021.
Updates- December 24: GB posted
- December 29: Production legend kit renders added to Inkstone and Old Path kits
- December 31: All production legend kit renders added
- January 1: GB live
VendorsAvailable from these vendors for group buy January 1, 2021.
US:
CannonkeysChina:
Zfrontier/EnglishSE Asia:
iLumkbEurope:
CandyKeysOceania:
Daily ClackCanada:
Deskhero.caUK (non-EU):
Prototypist.netKitsInkstone 砚台: the Simplified Chinese base kit
The Simplified Chinese base kit offers sublegends in the Cangjie Chinese typing system, while modifiers are rendered in Simplified Chinese + icons—the first GMK legends in true Chinese characters. Designed to cover a wide range of layouts. Included numpad is rendered in Chinese financial numerals as monolegends. Alphas include basic special Chinese punctuation sublegends.
Old Path 旧路: the Traditional Chinese base kit
The Traditional Chinese base kit offers sublegends in the Cangjie Chinese typing system, while modifiers are rendered in Traditional Chinese + icons—the first GMK legends in true Chinese characters. Designed to cover a wide range of layouts. Included numpad is rendered in Chinese financial numerals as monolegends. Alphas include basic special Chinese punctuation sublegends.
Clear Water 清水: the Cangjie monolegend alphas kit
A complete alphanumeric kit with Cangjie Chinese character monolegends, and duplicate modifiers and spacebars to assist base kit buyers in covering a second board if desired. Includes both Simplified and Traditional Chinese character alpha supplements and east/south/west/north Chinese character arrow keys. Recommended for compatibility with GMK WoB, Minimal, and other monochrome sets.
Lijiang 漓江: the novelties kit
Novelties feature images, real and imagined, of the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo, China, in Guangxi Province amid the world-famous South China Karst geologic formations. Novelty icons include:
- Nighttime scenes of the local mountain and river landscape (shanshui),
- the famous Moon Hill (a karst mountain with an enormous hole through the base, famed for rock climbing),
- the fishing cormorant,
- the ubiquitous “phoenix tail” bamboo that lines the banks of the Lijiang,
- the traditional lantern hung on the eaves of the winding streets of Yangshuo,
- a vignette of local South China architecture,
- alternate BoW Esc/Enter keys in TC and SC.
Negative Space 留白: the spacebars kit
Includes non-traditional spacebars and spacekeys, as well as variant WS1 bars for a distinctive touch.
Pricing| Kits | Cannon.keys
(prices in USD) | Zfrontier/English
(prices in RMB/USD) | iLumkb
(prices in SGD) | CandyKeys
(prices in EUR) | Prototypist.net
(prices in GBP) | Deskhero.ca
(prices in CAD) | Daily Clack
(prices in AUD) |
| Inkstone 砚台: the Simplified Chinese base kit (154pcs) | $134.99 | ¥968/$168 | $180 | €129.99 | £119 | $177 | $178 |
| Old Path 旧路: the Traditional Chinese base kit (154pcs) | $134.99 | ¥968/$168 | $180 | €129.99 | £119 | $177 | $178 |
| Clear Water 清水: the Cangjie monolegend alphas kit (67pcs) | $79.99 | ¥544/$88 | $106.50 | €75 | £69 | $105 | $105 |
| Lijiang 漓江: the novelties kit (23pcs) | $44.99 | ¥302/$49 | $60 | €42 | £39 | $59 | $59 |
| Negative Space 留白: the spacebars kit (13pcs) | $27.99 | ¥184/$31 | $37 | €28 | £25 | $37 | $37 |
Hand-worked LegendsThe original kit legends were rendered in Noto Sans SC and TC Bold 500, an open-source font that I found clean and to be a close match to the GMK standard Latin font. However, GMK specs require a certain degree of rounded corners, stroke width, negative space between strokes, and, most significantly, a relatively large minimum size of any interior negative space within a figure. I spent most of November completely overhauling the legends to meet the specs: adding cutaways to minute interior spaces, broadening strokes, narrowing and straightening negative space, rounding corners, and in a few cases where it was unavoidable, simplifying elements altogether.
This represents my best efforts to adhere to the integrity of the written Chinese language and to create a consistent typography that will serve not only this set but all sets that will use these legends to come. These legends are essentially as detailed as GMK's machining will allow while maintaining consistent character size with conventional mod and alpha legend sizing. I hope you are as pleased with how they've turned out as I am, and I'm pleased to present them in the base kits and will add all kit renders before the group buy begins. Please note that while we plan to add three keyboard renders using these hand-adjusted production legends, most of the boards we rendered used the concept legends as they were created before the GMK review and retooling. If you see a discrepancy in the legend shape, or are curious which ones will appear in the final product, please visually match them with the image below or just ask.
Special thanks to A.Jakkkke for his final review of the character forms and his extremely helpful suggestions.
Here's a link to download a full-size image and see all the detailKeyboard renders
See a full gallery of keyboard rendersCollaborations
Luxe Cables is offering a
themed Shanshui aviator cable all month, with delicately inked white paracord and branded aviator connectors in inkstone or black. Group buy goes live at noon CST January 1.
Digital Carpentry is offering
GMK Shanshui branded custom wood wrist rests tailored to your keyboard in a range of rare woods, with or without resin infill, with many split layout options available. Orders already rolling in, get yours in early!
Digital Carpentry for custom branded rare wood wrist rests
Luxe Cables for a set-matched aviator cable
RAMA WORKS for metal artisan keycaps
Salvun for artisan keycaps in bronze
Latrialum for collab artisan keycaps in resin
DE∆Gcaps for a collab artisan keycap in resin
Sodie Caps for collab artisan keycaps in resin
Destroyer Caps for collab artisan keycaps in resin
Bludgeoned Kaps for collab artisan keycaps in resin
Rascal Caps for collab artisan keycaps in resin
Frumpzkeys for collab artisan keycaps in resin
Fraktal Kaps for collab artisan keycaps in resin
Rejeck Kaps for collab artisan keycaps in resin
Froue Loop for a collab multimedia artisan keycap
If you’re a maker or artisan, I’d love to work with you to develop an exclusive collaboration for GMK Shanshui or a future set. Please get in touch!
RAMA WORKS artisan keycaps
All three GMK Shanshui x RAMA artisans
The Shan cap, in anodized black aluminum and white enamel fill, with the character 山 (“mountain”) in ancient Liushutong script - RRP $38 USD
The Shui cap, in e-white aluminum and black enamel fill, with the character 水 (“water”) in Liushutong script - RRP $43 USD
The Chop cap, rendered in deep red enamel on black PVD brass, displaying my adopted Chinese surname 魏 in a yin seal script imprint with a slight off-axis tilt. - RRP $58 USD
Deskmats
Rafts 钓鱼筏 deskmat: An ink painting of traditional fishing rafts afloat on the Li River beneath the leaning phoenix tail bamboo, emblazoned with the Shanshui logo chop at bottom left. Based on artwork by Baoyan.
Karst 岩溶 deskmat: an ink painting of the South China Karst seen through the mist with the inscription, "best scenery under heaven" (山水甲天下), an unofficial local slogan of the Li River area. No seal for users who prefer a completely monochrome look. Based on artwork by Elina Li.
Relationship to GMK HouhaiGMK Shanshui is the predecessor set to GMK Houhai, enabling the molds for Houhai, a far more complicated and prohibitively expensive set, to be produced using stock colors at an attractive price point. In the wise words of one vendor with far better business sense than most designers, “you can have 80+ new molds, or you can have seven custom RAL colors, but you can’t have both.” Hence, the long path home.
If you are a Houhai supporter, the best way you can help make that set possible is to support this set, and to let our existing vendors know that you want GMK Houhai to follow shortly on the heels of GMK Shanshui.
Sharing the Cangjie legendsDesigners interested in using the Chinese-language legends we’ve created are welcome and encouraged to reach out for design files to use in their renders, free of charge.
This is likely my last set design to use Chinese character legends—I don’t want to get typecast as the Chinese keycap guy! But I hope that other designers will take up the mantle and use these legends to produce beautiful work, as others have with Hiragana and Hangul legend designs.
AcknowledgementsThis design goes to the great people of China, the Chinese-speaking world, and the Chinese diaspora, who contribute so much to our community through their creativity, passion, knowledge, and work. You changed my life and I’ll never be the same. Also,
NathanAlphaMan for the incredible collaborative partnership, the initial idea to do Houhai as a WoB set, the gorgeous renders, and the critical feedback
Michael at Digital Carpentry, for being my first partner, my biggest sounding board, and my unrelenting critic
Exclusive, for the cultural translation help and his friendship
Alex, for the kernel of the idea of what Shanshui would become
Upas, for taking a chance on this set, and his important advice
Louis, for his kindness, his passion for my work, and his partnership
Jae, for his honesty and sense, and for the use of his beautiful J-01 and J-02 models
LBaron and the S+R team, for making their gorgeous Iron165 and Iron180 models available
A.Jakkkke for helping me make this set as good as it can be.
Thanks for reading this far and thank you for your feedback.
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