is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

who created

Hello Kitty , also known by her real name , is a fictional character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as a British anthropomorphized white cat with a red ...

Early life

Shimizu was born in Kyoto,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, on November 1, 1946. She attended

Musashino Art University or is a private university in Kodaira, Western Tokyo, founded in 1962 with roots going back to 1929. It is known as one of the leading art universities in Japan. History In October 1929, was founded. In December 1948, it became , and in ...

, and joined

Sanrio is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and manufactures products focusing on the ''kawaii'' ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and Fashion accessory, a ...

after graduation.

Career

Hello Kitty

In 1974 Shimizu made the original design for Hello Kitty, whose fictional birthdate is November 1, the same as Shimizu's. Hello Kitty is Sanrio's most successful and best known character. Shimizu based her name on

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

's black 'Kitty' from ''

Through the Looking-Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' is a novel published in December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church, University of Oxford. I ...

''. Hello Kitty was designed to be a ''

kawaii ''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...

'' (cute) symbol to be used on merchandise. In 1975, the design made her debut in Japan with her image on a coin purse. Sanrio has said Hello Kitty has no mouth because she "speaks from the heart" and that she is "Sanrio's ambassador to the world who isn't bound to one certain language."

At Sanrio

In 1973, Shimizu designed the first original Sanrio character,

Coro Chan This is a list of characters from Sanrio, a Japanese company specialized in creating kawaii (cute) characters. Sanrio sells and licenses products branded with these characters and has created over 450 characters. Their most successful and best kno ...

, a bear. Other characters designed by Shimizu for Sanrio include , a rabbit and mice, and , a girl wearing a

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn Garment collars in hanfu#Youren (right lapel), left side wrapped over ri ...

, all from 1974.

After Sanrio

Shimizu left Sanrio in 1976 to get married. She has been working as a freelance designer ever since. She did not make a lot of money from Hello Kitty. The other characters she has created include

Angel Cat Sugar Angel Cat Sugar is the name of a fictional feline character created by Yuko Shimizu in 2002. The character is a white female kitten with a crown on her head and angel wings on her back and is from the fictional Angel World. Merchandise depicting t ...

and Rebecca Bonbon. She has also published some picture books.

References

External links

The Official Hello Kitty WebsiteThe Official Rebecca Bonbon WebsiteThe Official Angel Cat Sugar Website
1946 births Living people Japanese character designers Japanese advertising artists and illustrators Hello Kitty Cat artists Artists from Chiba Prefecture 20th-century Japanese illustrators 21st-century Japanese illustrators Japanese women illustrators {{Japan-bio-stub