Yuko Shimizu

Yuko Shimizu was born on November 1, 1946, in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Graduating from Musashino Art University, she joined Sanrio as an in-house illustrator and graphic designer in the early 1970s, during a transformative period when Japanese youth culture was discovering cheerful, stylized character goods.

In 1974, tasked with creating a charming character for a vinyl coin purse, Shimizu sketched a white Japanese Bobtail cat wearing a red bow, naming her Kitty White (Hello Kitty). The character possessed no drawn mouth, intentionally designed so that viewers could project their own emotions onto her—feeling happiness when joyful and comfort when sad.

Hello Kitty exploded into a peerless global phenomenon, generating over $88 billion in lifetime revenue and becoming an official UNICEF Children's Ambassador and cultural icon. Shimizu later created other celebrated characters including Angel Cat Sugar and Rebecca Bonbon, cementing her status as a titan of character design.