I designed Hello Kitty

Witness History

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture, History

4.5 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1974 an unknown Japanese artist put pen to paper and created a character that would go on to be worth more than $80 billion.

The illustration was titled ‘Unknown White Cat’ but you will probably know it better as Hello Kitty.

The artist, Yuko Shimizu, designed Hello Kitty while she was working for the firm Sanrio.

Fast forward 50 years and Yuko’s friendly feline has been on a fair few adventures including going to space and becoming Japan’s ambassador for tourism.

Yuko tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty the secrets behind Hello Kitty’s ‘cuteness’ and introduces her latest character, the stylish French bulldog Rebecca Bonbon.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Hello Kitty. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.
0:05.0	My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.
0:11.0	It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter
0:15.1	to people here, but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.
0:19.6	And because the team is such a diverse range of skills and strengths. We have trained journalists, people who love digging through archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice.
0:31.3	So if you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll
0:34.6	find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK.
0:42.2	Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me
0:47.0	Anushkum at Andadowati. Today I'm taking you back to 1974 and to Japan
0:52.2	where a 24-year-old artist has just put pen to paper and created something
0:57.0	that will go on to be worth over $80 billion.
1:01.0	The Sunu Kura... billion dollars. I use a Japanese hooded brush pen and Japanese summy ink to draw originals. That was how it was done in those days.
1:14.0	That's Yuka Shimizu, the artist.
1:19.0	The original she's talking about was a simple sketch of a cat with a button nose, oversized head, no mouth, and a bow over her right ear.
1:28.0	It took on the title Unknown White Cat, although you might know her better, as Hello Kitty.
1:35.0	I intended to become an art teacher while I was at university.
1:42.0	I was majoring in oil painting, but personally I felt I was lacking in that area, so gave up on the idea. So I switched my attention to teaching God, but there weren't any positions
1:57.7	open at that time.
2:01.1	Desperate for a creative outlet, Yuco began looking outside art classes and in 1974
2:06.4	stumbled upon Sanrio, an ex-silk production company who'd had a runaway success
2:11.3	when they started to produce rubber sandals adorned with a strawberry print.
2:15.3	Eager to repeat this success, they'd started hiring illustrators to create characters they could sell.
	...

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