Shaping Time

This chunky object is a great block to put on your table. But it won’t stay there for long: it invites you to pick it up and touch it. Philip Stroomberg’s Cube Calendar looks and feels like a sculpture.

With this beautiful design-calendar, Philip Stroomberg has added an innovative twist to the concept of the tear-off calendar. Not a messy sheaf of paper hanging from a nail on your wall, but a compact object that subtly changes shape in your hands: by tearing off a card each day, you reveal the workings of time.

Divided into six rows, hundreds of cardboard cards line up, held together as a cube by two binding screws. The cards have been punched from two sheets of Algro Design. There’s a card for each day and, every few days, a card with a quote about time – a humorous observation or a philosophical aphorism. “‘What day is it?’ ‘It’s today,’ squeaked Piglet. ‘My favourite day,’ said Pooh.” Or this statement from philosopher Bertrand Russell: ‘The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.’

The Cube Calendar comes in a specially designed box that ingeniously folds around the cube without glue or other adhesive. If you lift the lid, the box falls open like origami, leaving the calendar to be picked up.

For connoisseurs, there are all kinds of clever little details to think about and enjoy. Put four boxes side by side, for instance, and you’ll get the name The Cube Calendar. This is printed matter made three-dimensional.

The Cube Calendar has been designed for the international market. Its simple, yet smart, appearance makes it suitable for all types of environments. Its modern design refers to cultural traditions such as Bauhaus and Het Nieuwe Bouwen and, at the same time, The Cube Calendar design shows a hint of self-deprecation, making it very contemporary Dutch. For you either leave The Cube intact – the 2013 edition is a potential collector’s item – thus allowing the calendar to keep its secrets, or you do what is required and tear off the cards so that, come the 31st of December, there’s nothing left but a unadorned surface.