Hybrid Spaces

C&C • Creativity and Cognition (2026)

Beadle

A Bricolage Toolkit for Exploring, Perceiving, and Redesigning Thermoplastic Materiads using Fuse Beads

Description

Digital modeling tools often abstract away material behavior, making it difficult for designers to reason about how artifacts will feel, flex, or fail in the real world. In this paper, we present Beadle, a design tool that supports tangible, hands-on exploration of thermoplastic behavior through a craft-based workflow built on fuse beads. Rather than relying on simulation-based modeling systems, Beadle allows users to design structures and cells using 3D printed fuse beads with diverse functional properties. The familiar geometry of fuse beads supports rapid generation of materiads – collections of intentionally partial material probes designed to be interpreted relationally through contrast and comparison. A workshop user study with 11 participants demonstrated how Beadle supports reasoning about material properties, catalyze creative directions, serve as creative rivals, and act as a material debugging strategy. We discuss how hands-on workflows can complement digital CAD tools by offering alternative pathways to develop material intuition.