The Best Steampunk Style Gadgets and Technology

With technology playing such a large role in our lives and making up such a large proportion of the stuff we buy - and carry around with us - buying a gadget cannot be purely about functionality. It is also about fashion. Defining your own personal style and making a fashion statement in the modern world is not just about your clothes and your hair, it is also about your technology.

One of the most dramatic and interesting styles which seems to lend itself very well to gadgets is steampunk. Steampunk is all about technology anyway, as much of its style is a re-imagination of what Victorian era steam and clockwork technology would look like if it had somehow become much more advanced. It is a fantastic and magical style, which often envisions advanced technology as a combination mechanical systems and some form of magic. It is also a style which lends itself to the expression of craft skills and the tinkering of individual hackers - which is something that I love.

All of the products featured on this page are working pieces of technology created by hand in the workshops of some of the world's most inspiring modern craftspeople.

If you still have a desktop computer then you can choose between some truly gorgeous keyboards. It was actually a collection of keyboards on a site called Datamancer that inspired me to write this article. Check out a couple of my favourite pieces below, and follow the link which I've included if you want to see more.

If just the keyboard is not enough for you, then perhaps you would like to take it to the next level with these amazing PC cases. There is a huge culture out there of people who 'mod' their own PC cases, and some of the results are really very impressive.

Although the Kymera may not be quite as true to what we normally think of as being 'steampunk' as the rest of the gadgets featured here, I reckon it is by far the most fun to use. I also think that the combination of magical and olde world vintage style with high technology qualifies it to be classed as steampunk.

Basically this is a universal remote control that you can use to control your television, DVD, music system and so on. But instead of pressing boring old buttons you wave your wand around like a magician that really can make things happen!