Monthly subscription boxes are all the rage these days for everything from toys to comics, make-up, food and even bacon. The concept is a simple one: you sign up for the subscription and each month you receive a new box full of surprise products and goodies, often unique to the box or hard to get. There have been a few different concepts tried out for 3D printing with varying success, but I think one of the most unique and successful of them is the creator-specific boxes from Southern California-based CubeForme. Each month offers a new, affordable box full of 3D printed objects from some of the most innovative and talented 3D designers working today.
When the team behind CubeForme first launched their company they tried unsuccessfully to raise funds on Kickstarter, but despite having a solid product and business plan they just never managed to get over the funding goal. But co-founders Nicholas Nguyen and Kyle Pham went ahead with their planned launch and are now readying their third subscription box so clearly they didn’t need crowdfunding. CubeForme is also expanding their offerings by adding an on-demand 3D printed product marketplace that sells some of the coolest and most affordable games, gadgets, figures and accessories.
Their new marketplace carries products that range from $5 to $25, with the average price typically under $10. Many of the items in the marketplace are made up of the contents of previous subscription boxes that are available as standalone models. Everything is entirely curated and hand selected by the CubeForme team to verify the quality of the model. All of the products on the marketplace are 3D printed by CubeForme and the designer gets a cut of each sale. All of the products on the marketplace as well as the subscription boxes include free shipping in the United States.
The first CubeForme subscription box was the “Jim Rodda Adventure” and was jam packed with some great 3D printed goodies. If you don’t remember Jim Rodda, he likes to design awesome medieval armor for Barbie, and may have created a cat chariot once. His designs are light-hearted and always place an emphasis on using 3D printing for fun. His box had some great goodies like a penny launching ballista catapult, a mini crossbow and a two-piece ring to turn your finger into a shark. If you missed out on the Jim Rodda box, don’t worry, a lot of the great designs in the box are now available on the marketplace.
The subscription boxes can be purchased monthly, bi-monthly, every three months or every six months, each with incremental savings. They start at a modest $15.00 when you buy the box each month and drop down to $14.25 when you subscribe for six months. Each month a new, featured designer who is well-known for their great 3D printed products will be chosen to create their own subscription box. This month’s box features the innovative designs of Luis Picarzo, who has also included some great 3D printed clock designs for sale on the CubeForme marketplace.
The next designer box on tap is set to feature cosplay weapon king and MyMiniFactory designer Kirby Downey and his “Gamer Box”. Downey’s designer box is unlikely to have rubberband machine guns, replica weapons from Destiney, or 4.2-foot-tall World of Warcraft swords but based on some of the smaller projects that he’s done on MyMiniFactory you can bet that it’s going to have some awesome goodies in it geared specifically for gamers.
The CubeForme team recently launched an entirely redesigned website, so if you haven’t checked out the new look on CubeForme.com make sure that you head over and give it a look. While you’re there go ahead and sign up for the monthly subscription boxes. As an added bonus, CubeForme is offering 3DPrint.com readers a 25% discount off of your first month’s subscription using the promo code “3dprint”. The offer is good until March 20th, which is also the deadline to sign up to receive the Kirby Downey “Gamer Box”. Discuss this offer and new marketplace in the CubeForme On-Demand 3D Printed Marketplace forum over at 3DPB.com.
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