THE SANRIO COMPANY holds a leading position in the kawaii industry, with more than 500 design characters in its portfolio. Its undisputed star character, of course, is Hello Kitty, but Sanrio's lasting contribution to the Japanese kawaii culture spreading throughout the world is far from limited to Hello Kitty - the company has produced approx. 450 design characters over the years!

© Sanrio Co., Ltd.

A classic Sanrio brand is Little Twin Stars, created by Sanrio founder Shintaro Tsuji himself and first launched in 1975. The property is now being re-launched with new designs and artwork with a slight retro feeling.

Born on December 24 on the Star of Compassion, the twins Kiki and Lala aim to spread happiness to everyone they meet. These mystical twins would pass the time wondering about life on Earth, the planet they had heard so many stories about. With permission from Mother-Star and Father-Star they set out for a visit to Earth. Lala’s star wand led them on their journey. Ever since they arrived they have been spreading happiness to everyone they meet.

The Sanrio artists have mastered the fine art of creating pure imagery with instant recognizability and "personality". While their character icons do not need surrounding storylines to make a genuine impression, there is a "soap opera" quality to several of Sanrio's properties, with a number of subsidiary personalities revolving around the brand character. The Sanrio style was deliberately developed to differ from bold American cartoons with aggressive colors and sharp lines - more subtle, with rounder features, more pastel colors and a kind of coziness. The characters' limbs are shorter, the view is often full frontal and the pose iconic and static. As design icons, Sanrio's kawaii properties represent an aestethic quality that embodies values like care, innocence and gentle silliness and seems to respond to basic and universal human needs, for children and adults alike.