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Hello Kitty creator From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yuko Shimizu (清水 侑子, Shimizu Yūko, born 1 November 1946) is the Japanese designer who created Hello Kitty.
Yuko Shimizu | |
|---|---|
Shimizu at Japan Expo 2010 | |
| Born | November 1, 1946 Kyoto, Japan |
She was born in Japan. After graduating from Musashino Art University, she joined Sanrio. She designed the first original Sanrio character, Coro Chan, a bear which was introduced in 1973.[1] In 1974 she made the original design for Hello Kitty, whose fictional birthdate is November 1, same as Shimizu's.[2][3] Hello Kitty is Sanrio's most successful and best known character. Shimizu based her name on Alice's black 'Kitty' from Through the Looking-Glass. Hello Kitty was designed to be a kawaii (cute) symbol to be used on merchandise.[2][3][4] In 1975, the design made her debut in Japan with her image on a coin purse.[2][3] 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."[5] Shimizu left Sanrio in 1976 to get married and has been working as a freelance designer ever since. She did not make a lot of money from Hello Kitty.[6]
The other characters she has created include Angel Cat Sugar and Rebecca Bonbon.[7] She has also published some picture books.
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