We turn the cube and it twists us…

t3rubik
T3 Rubik

That’s a quote from Erno Rubik, Hungarian inventor, architect and professor of architecture. He is best known for the invention of mechanical puzzles including Rubik’s Cube.

I was always fascinated by the Rubik’s Cube (which came out in 1974-75 while I was in middle school.) The Rubik’s Cube would go on to become an instant success worldwide, winning several Toy of the Year awards, and becoming a staple of 1980’s popular culture. To date, the Rubik’s Cube has sold over 350 million units, making it the best selling toy of all time. Rubik said:

Space always intrigued me, with its incredibly rich possibilities, space alteration by (architectural) objects, objects’ transformation in space (sculpture, design), movement in space and in time, their correlation, their repercussion on mankind, the relation between man and space, the object and time. I think the CUBE arose from this interest, from this search for expression and for this always more increased acuteness of these thoughts…

So when I realized that I could have a Custom Cube made with anything I wanted on each side for $12.99 (including shipping from China!) I wasted no time in creating the art and ordering my T3 Cube.

The cube is, well, square, and my logo is not. So I adjusted the T3 logo by extending the arms of the “T” so the whole thing was square. I then color matched the red, blue, green, yellow and orange to the original Rubik’s Cube we have at home and verified the order and relationship of the colors on each side and created the 6 – 57mm images needed to make the cube:

photo placement

On January 5 at 7:37 am I ordered the cube and emailed the images with my order number. I received an email confirming they had received my order and, I quote:

Thanks for your purchasing, will make and ship it ASAP, happy new year!

So I settled in for the wait. I have ordered things from China before and it can take several weeks to a couple of months to get some products. So you can imagine how surprised I was when the package showed up January 20th, just 2 weeks from when I ordered it!

cube 3d

It is a cheap cube (what do you expect for 13 bucks), but the printing is clean and clear and it looks great. So now I can let the cube twist me.

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