Painting gets messy, especially when you have kids. Without regard for the new floor carpet or optic white-stained china cabinet, the whole room is their canvas when kids paint. Then there’s the dreaded clean-up of all the scattered colored pencils and paintbrushes. Setting out to create a tidy solution for those memorable, but messy paint-filled afternoons, Architect Mum, a child care accessory design studio, developed the Creative Cube, a multifunctional pen holder that can last a lifetime. Creative Cube was inspired by Architect Mum founder Caro’s own daughter. Caro describes, “After she had painted, it was a hassle for her to tidy up the pens, too…when she was painting with water, it also happened quite often that the water glass tipped over in the creative process. I knew we needed a pen holder that would solve our problems, but I didn’t want a plastic red ladybug in our home.” Averting the tempting lure of weird, anthropomorphic plastic home accessories, Caro gave Creative Cube a wooden construction to exude a minimalist warmth and a timeless, neutral design so the product can be carried down for generations. Eighteen pen slots and a single paintbrush holder fill out the sides of Creative Cube with an additional chamber to place paint water cups stationed on the top of Creative Cube. Manufactured in southern Germany, Creative Cube is constructed from sycamore wood and coated in linoleum for added protection. Developed to be a lifetime product, Creative Cube is doubly covered with natural linseed oil to stand the test of time and remain resistant against any potential water damage. Since wood is a natural product, Caro suggests keeping your Creative Cube out of direct sunlight to avoid any yellowing or grain fluctuations. Nine pen slots fill out each side of Creative Cube, with additional chambers for a paintbrush and water cup. Kids can clean up their workstations with ease following paint activities and water coloring. With an intuitive design, kids can pull their favorite colored pens from Creative Cube and put them right back when they’re done. With wide slots, Creative Cube can hold multiple slim pencils in one holder.