The material decides everything

Every Cube begins not at the workbench, but with the material. For the wood tile Cubes, that's pine wood — a wood I process into tiles myself, stain, and cure. This isn't something bought off the shelf: as far as I know, no other furniture maker produces wood tiles this way. For the ceramic Cubes, I select fired tiles and check each one individually for size accuracy and colour tone before working with it — small variations between batches are normal for handmade tiles, and they're exactly what separates "made in a factory" from "made by hand".

Cutting, sanding, staining

For the wood tiles, the real work starts here: cutting to size, sanding, staining. Every tile goes through this process individually before it ever comes near a Cube frame. The stain soaks into the grain and needs to dry — depending on the shade and the weather, that takes time, and I let it take that time deliberately, because a tile laid too early can crack later. Ceramic skips this step, but here the tile colour already matters at the point where I select the batch.

Laying and grouting — the moment that changes everything

Once the tiles are ready, they're laid by hand onto the wooden base of the respective Cube model — row by row, with an eye on grain and colour flow, so no accidental pattern emerges. Then comes the step I personally enjoy the most: the grout colour. I mix the pigments for every grout colour myself, matched exactly to the shade you selected in the configurator. That's also why grout colour at COLB isn't a fixed off-the-shelf part — it's made fresh every time, with the small, natural variation that comes from mixing colour by hand instead of pulling it from the same factory tube every time.

Why no two Cubes are ever quite the same

After grouting, every Cube needs time to cure before it leaves the workshop. During that time I look at each piece once more, in peace — and every time, I notice how differently two Cubes with an identical configuration can still turn out. The wood grain is never exactly the same, the grout never dries back one hundred percent identically, small irregularities from handwork stay visible. To me that's not a flaw — it's the whole point. Buying a COLB Cube doesn't get you a mass-produced item, but a piece that exists in exactly this form once.

  • Every wood tile is individually cut, sanded and stained
  • Every grout colour is freshly mixed from pigments for every single Cube
  • No two Cubes are exactly identical — even with the same configuration
Curious to see it in person? COLB doesn't have its own classic showroom, but we work with partners in Berlin and Munich where you can view Cubes in person — just send me a short email and I'll tell you exactly where.

What this means for you

The whole process takes time: for ceramic Cubes, I plan for about 1–2 weeks from order confirmation, for wood tile Cubes 2–3 weeks — depending on how many orders are currently in progress. That's longer than a click-and-done piece from a wholesale furniture store, and I understand that can feel unusual. But it's also why a COLB Cube is only made after your configurator selection, rather than sitting finished in a warehouse: every piece is built for exactly the configuration you chose — material, size, tile format, colour and grout. That's more effort than mass production, but it's also the only way a genuine one-of-a-kind piece can exist.