Danish Luxury

Toys Craft toys Hama

Midi beads

Hama’s original ironing bead, 5 millimetres across, laid on a pegboard and fused into a motif with an iron.

Designed by
Malte Haaning
Made by
Hama
First made
1971

Visit hama.dk

Midi beads in spring colours spilling from a bucket, with round pegboards
Midi beads in spring colours spilling from a bucket, with round pegboards
Midi beads in red, green and white with hexagonal pegboards
Midi beads in red, green and white with hexagonal pegboards

Pictures © Hama, from hama.dk.

Why it is renowned

The Midi bead is the one Hama began with in 1971, and it still makes up most of the company’s sales.1 When the beads turned fifty in 2021, the British trade magazine Toy World marked the anniversary and wrote that Hama is known around the world in the children’s products market.2

The story

Malte Haaning took up tube beads when demand outran what other makers could supply; the Midi beads and their pegboards came out in 1971, made at his factory in Nykøbing Mors.12 At first a finished motif was glued onto a plastic tray or a piece of card; at the end of the 1970s Haaning developed the ironing method, which fuses the beads together.1 In 1989 the material changed from PVC to polyethylene.1 A Midi bead is 5 millimetres across and 5 millimetres long, the size Hama recommends from the age of five and the one used most.3

  • Mini beads, the smaller bead, 2.5 mm, from age ten
  • Maxi beads, the larger bead, 10 mm, from age three
Sources
  1. The story of Hama. hama.dk, read 1 October 2026.
  2. Hama Beads celebrates 50th anniversary with new range - Toy World Magazine. toyworldmag.co.uk, read 1 October 2026.
  3. Questions and answers (FAQ). hama.dk, read 1 October 2026.
  4. 30.000 Midi beads in bucket - Easter. hama.dk, read 1 October 2026.

Last checked 2 October 2026, against the maker's own pages.