Between AKB projects, client work, and my work with Glarses and CannonKeys, I’ve had the chance to bring over 120 keyboards to production over the past 7 years. As rewarding as that’s been, starting each new project with a completely blank slate has become increasingly difficult, and organic inspiration harder to come by.

Metanoia began differently. What started as a conversation with Kevin from Kezewa (who provided the initial layout based on the JER-mini), shifted my usual process from concept-first to something more reactive. Instead of building everything in isolation, I made a conscious effort to open the design up, checking decisions along the way and allowing external input to shape the outcome. While the bulk of the design is still my own, that collaborative back-and-forth led to more organic compromises and a result that feels distinct from my previous work.

The name “Metanoia” reflects that shift. After years of approaching projects in a very self-contained way, this board represents a change in perspective both in how I design and how I want to approach future projects. Maybe that means bringing more people into the process, maybe it means sharing ideas earlier than I usually would. I’m not entirely sure yet, but this feels like the first step in that change.