Jeruzalemstraat, in the Dutch city of Utrecht, is a narrow thoroughfare of ancient houses. Not much moves, even in the middle of the day. On Sunday, the loudest sound comes from the 13th-century bell tower of the adjacent St Martin's cathedral.
Along the street there are many 17th-century architectural gems but No16 is not one of them. Like a dog among swans it sticks out, all awkward angles and 1960s utilitarianism. Inside, concrete steps lead to a spiral staircase besieged by children's tricycles. Brush these aside to climb and, at the summit, behind a white door, another world unfolds: a small studio with a simple set of book-shelves and one drawing table, home to a business that generates US$300 million in annual revenues.
The billionaire owner of this unassuming aerie, with its views across Utrecht's rooftops, offers a welcome that's like a Dutch pancake - warm, soft and comforting. Dick Bruna, the creator of Miffy and author of 100 illustrated children's books with 80 million copies sold, is holding a pot of tea. This is not what we have come to expect from a celebrity author. It's hard to imagine Harry Potter's J.K. Rowling making tea for strangers. But then Bruna has always done things his way, with an accent on simplicity and humility.
Miffy, the little rabbit with a mouth like a cross stitch, was born in 1955. She would probably be even more dominant in pre-school literature if not for her Japanese rival, Hello Kitty. Like Miffy, Sanrio's kitty cat has a wide, white, face - but it has no mouth, not even the little X that has made Miffy so instantly recognisable. Dedicated fans of Miffy, who see Kitty as one more Japanese knock-off, joke that Kitty has no mouth to stop her telling the truth - that she is a clone dreamed up by Sanrio's marketing department to steal Miffy's market share.
Bruna, 82 and with hands as steady as a rock, has a face like that of a grandfather from a casting agency. If you need someone who looks like he could be Father Christmas' brother, the one who designs all the best toys, Bruna is your man. His studio seems like a fantasy on the same scale as Santa's Grotto; it has the atmosphere of a place where nothing bad can happen. Unless you mention that damn cat.
'I don't like it at all,' he says, his moustache for a second looking less like kindly Kris Kringle's brother's and more like warlike Kaiser Wilhelm's. '[Hello Kitty] is stolen from Miffy. It is Miffy without ears. I always think, when I am tempted to do something too much like something else, 'Don't do that. Try to make something that you think of yourself.' That has always been my way.'