We were selling more and more Cooling Cubes, and we had to improve our processes and logistics. We were slowly reaching the limit of what we could deliver. We had been thinking in terms of hundreds of Cooling Cubes, but we were now working with thousands.

Our first big festival. Amazing! Our Cooling Cubes stand was right in the middle of the action. Lots of work, lots of people, lots of fun, lots of sun and lots of ice-cold beer. Have a look for yourself.

Put your cold beer in your Cooling Cubes, spend all day on the beach, and your beer will still be cold in the evening. How can we get this message across? With a video! We flew to Tenerife to see Marius Hoppe and made a cute little film with his friend Tessa Kudrass.

Our garage was now too small. We managed to find room in an old factory. A really cool location with loads of character and plenty of space.

We stored the first delivery from our producer, GWK Kuhlmann, in Ingo’s garage. And then we started sending out package after package. A proper garage start-up. Just like Apple.

This certainly called for a celebration. And what better way to celebrate the birth of Cooling Cubes, than with a big party. We invited all of our crowdfunding supporters. And we made sure they had plenty to drink - without bar or barkeeper. There was plenty of ice-cold beer, cocktails and white wine for everyone. Have a look at our after-party video.

While we were waiting for the money to come in, we had to take some decisions. What colour would people want their Cooling Cubes to be? We decided to offer pretty much everything, and see what sold best.

Within one year of having the idea, special machines we needed to make the precise shape we wanted were already being built. We had learned a lot about moulding, and hoped that there would be no problems with larger production runs. It’s rare that nothing goes wrong, but we were either very good or very lucky.

We also needed a logo and an idea for the brand name. Maybe we had been watching too many YouTube videos from California. But we agreed pretty quickly, that this was the kind of feeling we wanted to express. Cooling Cubes mean freedom, fun, beaches and ice-cold beer.

The round keg needed to be put into the square cubes. But how? A cooling block at the top of the keg would stop warm air from getting in. And then we wanted to have the tap at a height to allow beer to be poured comfortably - from a table or when lying on the beach. A bit of storage space would be useful. And if the whole thing could be used as a stool, even better. We had a pretty long wish-list.

Our first try was made with polyurethane foam from a DIY shop. We tried to work out how to make insulation that would fit the keg perfectly. Our early attempts weren’t very impressive, but we got better step-by-step.