Growing up in Poland and then Canada, I was exposed to a completely different set of childhood characters and stories than were my American friends. Sure, we had Tom and Jerry. Once we had moved to the US, I was a pretty huge He-Man and GI Joe fan for a girl. But my baby days were dominated by awesome Eastern-block stop motion animations galore, and some of the cool European imports like Babar the elephant, Barbapapa and family, and most importantly Muminki (Polish for Moomin) – all so popular with the Japanese for their epic design styles and cuteness.
The Muminki books were written and illustration by Tove Jansson starting all the way back in the 40s, but became super popular in the 70s. Below are illustrations from some of the original storybook copies we have lying around, including those below.
Left: Diaries of Daddy Muminek. Right: Comet over Muminek Valley (!!!!)
Also loving this Muminki stencil graffiti I ran across recently. More Euro kid stuff (Adult Design Nostalgia) coming soon.
