Keycap Series: LittleCutieDesign Review

Coming from China, LittleCutieDesign has a store on Etsy and mostly does keycap designs based on 3D modeling. Besides artisan keycaps, the shop also has curated keycap sets which you can find on other platforms such as Taobao, AliExpres, Shopee or Lazada, for much cheaper.

What stood out was the vast design genres available on the Etsy shop: there are sweet adorable animals and food, and also cool sci-fi metallic or punk vibes. There is surely one keycap which would suit your sense of aesthetics.  

One thing to note is that not all the keycaps or keycap sets are that unique (similar designs can be found on Shopee, Lazada, Taobao etc...) for much less. So if you really want to know if you are getting your money's worth, then you would have to do your research and compare prices across platforms.

Of course the dog themed keycaps caught my eye and I was sure I was not able to find them somewhere else for that price, particularly with the "free shipping" and the promotion they had for a customized keycap. 

They were having a sale and delivery to Singapore (from China) was “free”, so I got a Husky keycap and a custom made keycap of my pet dog - a golden retriever.

The golden retriever keycap was custom made so that took a while longer (almost 2.5 months). The process was where I had to send photos of my dog to make sure they were able to capture it all on a little keycap. And that was it, there was no further communications or mockup of the final product before production so no changes and you have to accept what is given.

For just S$65 (US$48~)with free delivery it could be considered a good deal… except that the quality is really subpar. The final product was poorly made: the clay was not evenly cut and exposed the from corners of the keycap, the paint job was could have been slightly better too. 

Unboxing

Maybe my expectations were too high, but overall I was not too satisfied with the final product, which is a first time this has ever happened. Although exchanges are excepted within 14 days of delivery, it's too much of a hassle to handle the shipping back (and paying for it), I decided to keep this little piece of disappointment.

At least it was not all bad, the other Husky keycap looked adorable and met expectations. It seems to be out of production at the moment but for around S$55 (US$40~) it was not too bad since delivery to Singapore was “free”. But if you want a similar style you could check out @shirouu.kaps. Although it costs more, the experience should be better. 

Artist Info

• Style: 🧚 Fantasy/ Nature-Inspired / Gaming / Anime / Food 🍲
• Pricing (per keycap): an average of S$15 to S$80 (US$11 to US$60). Keycap sets costs much more.
• Shipping to Singapore: Free
• Shipping Internationally: depends on your location but should be reasonable (or free)
• Wait Time: Out of all the purchases I have made so far, the wait time for just creating the keycap was the longest since I had an order for a customized keycap. It was more than a month, about 2.5 months before I received the keycaps.
• Material: 3D Printing, Metal, Wood, Resin
• Location: China
• Social Media: 
• Esty Shop 
• Instagram

💗 Loves

💗 Variety (but do your research to make sure you are getting your money’s worth).

💗 Reasonable shipping price and overall pricing for some keycaps.

💔 Not so much

💔 Poor communication (or rather lack of communications).

💔 Unevenness of the keycap and disproportionateness.

💔 Poorly made for the customized keycap. 

💔 Lack of quality control and assurance (this is echoed through some of the reviews on Etsy). 

Remember to compare prices and shipping costs across different artisans and platforms to find the best fit for your budget!

Have you gotten any keycaps from LittleCutieDesign? If the answer is yes, let me know in the comments below what you loved (or not) and what did you get!

[Keycap Series: Featuring Artists of the Month] 

[Beginner's Guide to Artisan Keycaps: Everything You Need to Know]