3D Printing Comes Right to Your Door with New Subscription Service

I have a friend who is obsessed with the company Ipsy. She pays a fee of $10 a month, and receives in the mail a monthly bag of cosmetics. The fun part is that it’s a surprise every month; I was at her house one weekend when she received her bag and ripped into it like it was Christmas morning. There was a mixed reaction this time; she was thrilled to receive a particular moisturizer and not so pleased with a purple lipstick. (She still wouldn’t give it to me, however.) In recent years, the popularity of subscription services like this one have soared. Subscriptions are no longer just for magazines; you can receive monthly grab bags/boxes of wine, fun nerdy stuff, or even dog treats.

With their new Kickstarter project, Kyle Pham and Nick Nguyen are hoping to start a monthly subscription service for 3D printing enthusiasts. CubeForme will ship a monthly box of 3D printed items to subscribers, with a variety from functional to just fun. A website will offer profiles of different 3D designers each month. Subscribers will choose the designer who interests them the most, and will be shipped a box of that designer’s work, along with other materials that relate to 3D printing.

The subscription service will cost $9.99 per month, with 10% of the commission going to the featured designers. The first three designers to be featured once the Kickstarter campaign is complete will be Jim Rodda, Steve Dakh, and Luis Picarza. You can read short bios of each designer at CubeForme’s official website.

“Just as paintings do not exist without painters, 3D printed crafts do not exist without 3D designers,” says Pham. “Designing 3D models isn’t easy. It is both a form of art and a form of engineering. Like regular artists and architects, 3D designers deserve proper recognition. CubeForme’s designer-centered approach isn’t simply for its customers, it’s to help support 3D designers.”

Pham and Nguyen have been friends since second grade, and are currently in college. Nguyen, a Computer Science and Engineering major at the University of California Irvine, takes care of the technological and design aspects of the newly launched company, while Pham, majoring in Cognitive Science and Philosophy, Politics and Law at the University of Southern California, handles business and marketing. Their team also includes fellow students Breanna Tran, Arushi Gulati, Erik Byargeon, and Kevin Jin.

Support pledges of $9 or more will get you the first month’s box, which features the designs of Jim Rodda. Other support incentives include stickers, T-shirts, and, if you pledge $1,000 or more, a water-powered jetpack ride (though you’ll have to pay your own airfare to Newport Beach or San Diego.) The campaign runs until October 30th as they seek to raise $5,000.

“CubeForme is about cultivating this outlet, a premier express lane to 3D printing,” says
Nguyen. “We provide a fun and easy way for anyone to experience the ingenuity of 3D printing while creating a mainstream publicity channel for 3D designers so that they can gain the recognition they deserve.”

The team will be printing the goods on a Rostock MAX V2 printer and hopes to buy more printers in the near future, as the contents of one box currently take a day to print. The box’s contents will be a surprise each month, with only the designer being known beforehand.

“Whether you receive beautiful sculptures, groundbreaking gadgets, amusing trinkets, or a combination of all three, it will be a collectible surprise that you can appreciate,” says Pham. “By giving a first-hand experience and putting focus on the designers, we hope to foster a more accessible and immersive 3D printing culture.”

Are you considering subscribing to this service or backing their campaign?  Let us know in the CubeForme forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the Kickstarter video below:

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