Mug and Fiep

Mug and Fiep
I had good finds at Milnerton Market recently, including this Staffordshire Potteries mug, and piles of melamine plates and bowls adorned with adorable illustrations by Dutch illustrator Fiep Westendorp .

Fiep Westendorp was, by the way, a lady. I didn’t realise this until I visited her website, where I also discovered that her real name was Sophia Maria Westendorp, and Fiep was just a nickname.

From 1945, Fiep Westendorp’s illustrations started appearing in magazines and in advertising, and at the end of the 50s, her books started hitting the shelves. She became famous for her cat characters, Pim and Pom, and also for the characters on these plates, who are called Jip en Janneke.
The adventures and escapades of these adorable little mites fill the pages of the Jip en Janneke series, written by Annie MG Schmidt.

I love the way their little shoulders are hunched up in effort, and the amazing amount of expression she gets from her characters, largely through body language, as the faces are pretty low on detail.
Fiep Westendorp, I’m a fan, and I’ve got far too many of your melamine plates to prove it!

Update: Thanks to Mikodesign for letting me know about all the cool Jip en Janneke things (puzzles, stamps, onesies, etc) available at Dutch store HEMA. So cute!