Let’s continue on the illustration tip and go over one of the pride and joys of the Netherlands, Dick Bruna. Creator of Niintje and all kinds of other fantastic artworks, this little rabbit has been called everything from “Miffy” (in countries outside of the Netherlands) to the inspiration for Hello Kitty.

Nijntje’s name comes from the word “konijntje”, a Dutch word that means bunny and the name of a popular song here in the Netherlands by the AKA Junkies. Here in Amsterdam, you can get a plethera of her goods, including Dutch-style ceramic versions of her in the main tourist store located in Dam Square directly across from De Bijenkorf.

♥ THE DICK BRUNA HUIS (HOUSE)
One of the first things my Japanese friend Noelle did with her two year old daughter when they first arrived in the Netherlands was to run up to the Dick Bruna Huis in Utrecht which is a permanent space for all things Nintje at the Centraal Museum. According to her, “There was a giant, golden Miffy that Ima just stood in front of for like ten minutes and just said, ‘Woooooaaahhh…’”. If that doesn’t sell you on a train ticket up there, I don’t what will.

♥ NIJNTJE GOES ON VACATION - THE LIVE MUSICAL!

Included in the merchandising opportunities of Nijntje/Miffy is a real, live traveling musical show in Dutch. This last run was in Rotterdam. I’m not sure where the next one will be, but you can find tickets and dates here.

As much as I love Nijntje, I just don’t have the energy to comment positively on this. As a television show it’s adorable, but this display of human error is bordering on the way I felt about clowns as a child.

♥ DICK BRUNA’S ZWARTE BEERTJES AND OTHER DESIGNS
Miffy might be Bruna’s most famous creation, but it’s definitely not the only one. In fact, as a graphic designer for his father’s publishing house, Bruna has put together a mighty collection of book covers which can be found at this site, which sells hard-to-find and highly sought after Bruna books.

Most of the covers designed by Bruna were for the “Zwarte Beetjes” (or Black Bears) book series in which titles like The Saint, James Bond, Maigret, Simeon, and Shakespeare were published in Dutch by Bruna & Zoon.