Hama

Why it is renowned

Hama beads are sold in more than 50 countries.¹ The company lists its own distributors across Europe from Iceland to Turkey and Ukraine, and in Israel, Australia, Japan, Canada and the United States.² When the beads turned fifty in 2021, the British trade magazine Toy World wrote that Hama is known around the world in the children's products market.³

The story

Malte Haaning founded Malte Haaning Plastic in 1961, first making drinking straws and then other plastic goods such as skipping ropes, fly swatters and bird feeders.¹ Demand for tube beads outran what other makers could supply, so he began making them himself: the Midi beads and pegboards came in 1971, Mini in 1978 and Maxi in 1982.¹ In the late 1970s he worked out the ironing method that fuses the beads into a finished motif; before that they were glued onto plastic trays or card.¹ The name, registered as a trademark in 1984, joins the first two letters of his surname and his first name.¹ After his death in 1999 his youngest daughter, Lene Haaning, became director.¹ The beads have been developed, made and distributed from Denmark since 1971,⁴ at the factory in Nykøbing Mors, whose lawn holds the Hama Safari Park of large bead animals each summer.⁵

What to know it by

• Midi beads¹1971Malte HaaningThe original bead size, still most of the company's sales
• Mini beads¹1978Smaller beads for finer motifs
• Maxi beads¹1982Large beads for small hands