This iconic Small Miffy Lamp is inspired by the Dutch Children's book author and artist Dick Bruna's "Miffy" designed in 1955. Dick Bruna's Miffy first appear in children's books in 1963, and since then her design has evolved until his publication Miffy and the New Baby in 2003, where Miffy became a big sister and therefore adopted her current look like a young girl, rather than a toddler. Miffy's real name in Dutch is "nijntje" short for "konijntje" meaning "Little Bunny", but because her original name is difficult to pronounce in other languages aside from Dutch, the name Miffy has been adopted since 1996 in other countries aside from the Netherlands. Prior to 1996, Miffy was known as "La Petit Lapin" in French or "Kleintjie" in Afrikaans and various different names translating little bunny in other languages.
Dick Bruna was born in the Netherlandish city of Utrecht. He published 124 picture books that sold more than 85 million copies in more than 50 languages. His best-known volumes were those featuring a Miffy, the white bunny. Over time, Miffy has become an iconic figure of childhood.
Bruna began drawing as a diversion during the German occupation of World War II. After the war, the illustrator apprenticed at the W.H. Smith bookstore in London and the Plon publishing company in Paris. After that, he studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam before joining his family’s firm.
Bruna distinguished himself designing book covers and posters before devoting himself to children’s writing full time. He created Miffy in 1955 after he and his young son encountered a playful rabbit during a seaside vacation.
Looking back on Miffy, Dick Bruna commented that he hoped she had sparked the imagination of young readers “to see things in their simplest form. So that life, with all its complications becomes a little clearer.”
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