Happy 65th birthday Nijntje
Or should we say Miffy? Since “Nijntje” is too hard to pronounce in any other language than Dutch, “Miffy” has become its international name since about 1996. The name Nijntje is an abbreviation of the Dutch word for rabbit; Konijntje.
On the other hand, Miffy was selected because it was easy to pronounce in most languages. The reason there was pressure to simplify our rabbit’s name was mainly because of its international success. While being published in various local names, it was considered a branding nightmare to end up with as many names as there were publications. Then again we are talking cover only, since the main language inside every book, and perhaps the secret to success of Nijntje is her own global visual language understood by every child and parent. And that brings us to Dick Bruna – the father of Nijntje.
Dick Bruna in his studio in Utrecht. (2006)
The story goes that Dick Bruna while on vacation with his family in the Dutch coastal town of Egmond aan Zee, had a daily visitor in the garden of the house they rented; A little white rabbit hopping about to the amusement of the family. At night, putting his oldest son Sierk to bed, Dick on the spot, would make up stories about this little konijntje. Not much later Bruna starts to develop this real-life bunny into the character that has grown up to become an international star.
In almost every interview, Dick Bruna preferred to call himself an illustrator. These two sketches, left from 2010 and on the right from 1988, show that his way of approaching each subject did not change during the years.
Just like Disney evolved the appearances of Mickey over the years, so did Nijntje change. Ever so carefully, but with strategic common sense – the Nijntje we see today has a somewhat older appearance, while the first editions of Nijntje books showed a fluffier, rounder and younger version. Dick did decide on a girl right from the start, drawing her in a skirt. Looking at this from a design perspective, it’s easier, and simpler to draw and move about a 2-D figure on a page in a skirt than perhaps trousers. Her further physical development could be attributed to two distinct factors. Firstly, over the years Dick’s storytelling required Nijntje to have family members and friends. When an illustrator starts off with one character, that character sets the style for others to follow. It’s not a big jump to sketch dad and mum, oma en opa Pluis, aunt and uncle, in the same style as Nijntje. But how do you draw a bear, a piglet, a puppy, objects like a plane and even young ‘human’ kids in the same style? When Nijntje goes to the Zoo, you understand that at that point the illustrator really challenges himself. Leave it to Dick Bruna to make it look effortless. In fact the entire evolution of Nijntje’s adventures in her books and later TV shows stay deceptively simple.
The first ’Nijntje’ (first edition 1955) was drawn somewhat with a 3-D intention, only to be changed soon to have a more 2-D and graphic appearance.
Another reason Nijntje changed slightly was that she literally had to grow up from that toddler-look to a sister-look because of a new book called simply Miffy and the new baby. Nijntje had to physically change on the page to recognize her as the bigger sister. While storylines were basic in the late 1950’s, 60’s and early 70’s, Bruna wasn’t blind to cultural changes around him. Like any author he had to stay current and design more characters representing social issues. It’s this fluidity of basic life as we know it - that have made Nijntje’s stories timeless and globally attractive.
A Miffy educational coloring and writing book for 6 year old Japanese kids.
Hello Kitty, Japan’s own pride and joyous kitten, has a direct link to Nijntje. From a design and illustrative point of view, Hello Kitty, born in 1974 clearly was a copy of the original Nijntje. The entire structure of the character was founded on Dick Bruna’s genius. This came to a head in 2010 when Bruna finally sued Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty - for the development of one of its characters named Cathy, a white rabbit looking shamelessly similar to Nijntje. Even though Cathy was born in 1976, generating millions of dollars in promotional sales, it must have been enough even for the normally humble Dick Bruna. The case was settled out of court.
Over the years Sanrio’s founder and businessman Shintaro Tsuji did acknowledge that “Miffy was an inspiration for Hello Kitty.” But there’s a clear difference in a company that develops a character with plans to grow it into a $5 Billion product, versus a graphic designer who develops a loving little rabbit and ends up teaching three generations of children about life. Bruna wasn’t a businessman. He was a storyteller. The exploitation of Nijntje or Miffy internationally grew slowly. Yes, today you can own a Nijntje T-shirt, stuffed animal, key chain, table lamp or whatever else. But even Bruna couldn’t have predicted it would come to all that. More than 30 books translated in over 80 languages and a total of 124 picture books, make Nijntje a friend to all. It’s a symbol of goodness, safety and protection. It represents a tiny little world parents can let their children roam in – unsupervised.
(Lang zal ze leven in de gloria - may she live long.)
As a tribute to Nijntje’s 65th birthday, students in The Netherlands have designed a fashion show which is on exhibit in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht from June 20 to September 20.
By Jeroen Bours
Graphic Designer, Art Director, Founder and CEO of darling in NYC
