Fire Hydrant Book Holder by EYF Design, Image: Cubee
Since its launch in 2021, Cubee has focused on integrating 3D printing into local small-business retail and commerce. The company’s core product, Hive, is a commercial licensing platform that connects 3D printing businesses with exclusive design catalogs developed by professional 3D designers. Each Hive catalog is offered under a limited license, ensuring that sellers don’t face overcrowded markets and that designers can protect the value of their intellectual property.
Cubee introduced the concept of license exclusivity to the 3D printing sector, offering a focused and protected sales environment for both creators and sellers. Hive memberships are tailored specifically for selling 3D-printed products. Each licensed design comes with pre-produced media content—such as photos and videos—plus access to live expert consultation sessions, webinars, and valuable market data on product trends and sales performance.
For those just entering the space, Cubee offers HiveCommunity, an affordable entry-level plan that provides access to a rotating collection of royalty-free designs created by Hive designers. This model lowers the barrier to entry while maintaining professional standards and enabling users to explore commercial opportunities in the growing 3D printing ecosystem.
Interview with Oded Kishik
In the following interview with 3Druck.com, Cubee Co-Founder and COO Oded Kishik explores how 3D printing is shaping new opportunities for small businesses and local production. He shares his perspective on emerging trends, the value of exclusive design licensing, and how Cubee is positioning itself within a decentralized, data-driven manufacturing landscape.
How has the demand for licensed, production-ready 3D models evolved among your users, particularly those running small-scale print-on-demand businesses?
Cubee Co-Founder and COO Oded Kishik
In recent years, we’ve seen many people dream of turning their 3D printer into a business. The big advantage of 3D printers is that you can build various types of businesses using the same machine—whether it’s print-on-demand or small-scale manufacturing of a product. As the design world has flourished and many products have become ready for mass production, more and more people have started using them and selling the finished goods through various sales channels—from Etsy to wholesale. The demand for ready-made products—already designed, printed, and photographed—continues to grow year by year, as sellers realize it’s a shortcut to entering the market. The cost and time needed to validate a product idea have significantly decreased. This approach is especially effective for small businesses that don’t have much capital to invest, but we’re also starting to see larger businesses adopting this model as well.
What recent advancements in desktop 3D printing—whether in hardware, materials, or software—have most influenced the way Cubee selects or delivers designs for its Hive platform?
Over the years we’ve been in the industry, we’ve witnessed several waves of dramatic shifts in 3D printing technology—particularly in what the machines can do and the limits they’ve pushed for their users.
The most significant recent change has, of course, been the entrance of Bambu into the field. Their ability to offer high-quality printers at lower prices has drastically reduced the cost of the final printed product, making it economically viable to sell a wider range of printed items. Faster print times and better reliability have also allowed sellers to take more risks and lower their prices. A product that would have sold for $100 from a maker five years ago might now sell for $30. Print success rates have significantly improved, and people now factor in less waste or failure when calculating their margins.
The advent of multi-color printing has unlocked entirely new categories of products that weren’t viable before. Additionally, the print quality has reached a level where many printed items no longer even look 3D-printed—making them more desirable to customers. Etsy’s rise as a major platform for handmade and custom products has also been key. In our system, Etsy is the top sales channel for most sellers, and we expect it will remain dominant in the near future.
All these developments have greatly increased the percentage of viable products that can be sold through this model—where an individual with a printer can sell finished goods directly. We believe this trend will continue, and hopefully, in the future, more than 10% of the products found in homes will be 3D printed.
In what ways does Cubee support designers in monetizing their 3D creations while protecting their intellectual property across a decentralized production network?
We built the Cubee Commercial License service with a strong emphasis on exclusivity. Our ultimate goal is to create small, focused groups of sellers who work directly with a designer to distribute their products globally. From the exclusive catalogs, designers earn in two ways:
1.A relatively low monthly subscription fee of $29 2.A 10% royalty from each sale made by the printer owner
This model helps us maintain a limited number of sellers per designer, reducing the risk of designs falling into the wrong hands. At the same time, it allows designers to earn significantly if they create a product that sells well.
It also builds a healthy, collaborative relationship: the designer creates a product, the seller tries to market it, and if it succeeds, the designer is rewarded with royalties—plus valuable insight into what sells.
Lemon Lamp by Cornichon Design, Image: Cubee
The designer benefits not only from the income but also learns what to design next, and the sellers gain access to data showing which products are worth selling. In this way, the seller group functions as a team. Cubee’s role is to ensure that everyone—the designers and the sellers—gets paid fairly and receives the insights needed for success. The vision is that every designer will eventually have 50 strong sellers moving hundreds of thousands of dollars in products each month. Instead of needing 1,000 subscribers, a designer can focus on 50 serious partners. This approach keeps content more secure, boosts designer earnings, and allows sellers to compete on quality—not just price.
Looking ahead, how do you see decentralized manufacturing via 3D printing reshaping local commerce and supply chains globally, and how is Cubee positioning itself to lead this shift?
Five years ago, we came across a prediction from McKinsey stating that by 2025, 5% of all products in the world could be 3D printed. The big question is: how will everyday people access those products?
We firmly believe they will be able to buy them just like any other product—at a nearby store, online, or through other familiar retail channels. In fact, this is already happening in various ways, and our role is to observe, collect data, and adapt accordingly.
We’ve been in this industry for over six years, and in that time, we’ve seen many companies try to dominate the global market with a single, centralized store selling products worldwide. Some brands have found success, but most rely on manufacturing in one location and shipping globally—losing one of 3D printing’s biggest advantages: local production.
On the other hand, we’re seeing the rise of local shops selling 3D printed products directly to customers in their own countries. Their ability to continuously add new designs to their catalog opens up a new world—where you buy a product in your own language, from someone in your own country, manufactured locally, but designed by someone across the globe.
Our strength as an organization is being able to operate in over 100 countries, selling without requiring major upfront investment. That’s the real magic of 3D printing. We often think of it like a localized franchise: someone buys the rights from us and the designer to sell the brand locally. Cubee’s role in this future is to distribute the content—being the platform where you, as a seller, log in, browse catalogs and data, and decide which product to add to your inventory.
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