As 3D printing technologies expand, materials with unstable, unpredictable properties are becoming increasingly relevant. Cementitious composites, clays, and other ceramics hold particular promise due to their potential for fast, large-scale fabrication and local availability. Yet, despite their benefits, clays present significant challenges: irregularities and deviations from digital models often limit their use in architectural-scale applications. Hive set out to embrace these instabilities, turning deformation into a design tool for functional and aesthetic innovation. Hive reframes clay’s “imperfections” as assets, showing how digital precision and material variability can coexist. Its uniquely modeled bricks modulate light, create rich textures, and bridge traditional craft with contemporary fabrication. The project positions clay as a sustainable, expressive material for adaptive architectural facades. Through iterative testing, Hive’s digital models were calibrated to work with and not against clay’s natural behavior during printing, drying, and firing. The result is 175 printed clay bricks that form an interlocking masonry system that merges structural function with material expression. Hive redefines clay’s role in digital fabrication by balancing digital and analog processes, bringing a new level of material expression, authenticity, and tactile richness that highlights the evolving relationship between traditional craft and innovative digital design.