The Malte Haaning Plastic A/S was founded in 1961 by Malte Haaning. It started with the production of drinking straws. Over time, the product range developed - other plastic items were added such as cocktail skewers, jump ropes, fly flaps, bird feeders and many others.

When the demand for tubular beads became so great that the manufacturers of the time could no longer keep up, Malte Haaning decided to take up this production.

The Midi beads were introduced in 1971 and generate by far the largest share of sales. Later, the other bead sizes were added: Mini and Maxi.

In 1984, the name Hama was registered as a trademark. The name is derived from the name of the company's founder: HA = the first two letters of the surname and MA = the first two letters of the first name.

As a natural continuation of product development, other product groups were added over time: Stick Mosaic, Maxi Stick and Miss Hama.

Hama products are exported to more than 50 countries worldwide. In Germany, distribution is handled exclusively by DAN-Import.