It started with homework.
My son was doing some 3D printing in a pre-engineering course at school. I learned a little CAD to help him with a few assignments, and it became a shared interest.
That Christmas, I gave him a Bambu Lab A1 Mini. Around the same time, my wife found a deal on a FlashForge Adventurer 5M and gave it to me. Suddenly we had two printers and plenty to figure out.
A fidget here. A small toy there.
The printers made getting started approachable, but designing our own products still came with a learning curve. Between work for me and school for him, time was limited. We stuck with it, trying little prints, adding a name, and playing with different colors.
His friends started asking about the fidgets he had. He gave some away, sold a few, and caught the entrepreneurial bug. I'd always wanted to start a business myself, so I figured we could learn together. Kobalt Kreations was born.
Why K squared?
Our K² logo is made of build plates. To us, it represents the exponential power of family and combined effort: what we can make and learn when we put our ideas together.
Things we enjoy. Things we use.
Some designs grow out of tabletop games we enjoy together, including Magic: The Gathering, as well as Pokémon, which some of the younger boys in our family love. Others are practical pieces and decorations for the house, or gifts for holidays and special occasions, like our photo lithophane lamps.
Where we're going.
Our first goal is to spend quality time together, build entrepreneurial habits and skills, and put earnings back into the hobby. That means software, filament, tools, and eventually more printers.
Long term, maybe this becomes something he grows into. Maybe I keep the shop going and he takes what he's learned into something new. Either way, it will always be a journey that started with a father and son finding something they love doing together.
Rob Knighton
Co-maker, Kobalt Kreations