Back in my earlier years I used to love all things Sanrio. It wasn't so much the characters that initially made me a fan of the store but rather WHAT they sold at their stores. I was a pretty nerdy kid. Still am (a little bit). I used to love stationary products. Pens, pencils, erasers etc. Sanrio had some of the best stationary products around. There was never a time when I entered that store in my pre-teen years that I didn't walk away without a nifty looking pen or mechanical pencil. Thinking about this particular past now, I fondly remember their super cool pencil cases with various compartments and buttons that ejected either a pencil sharpener or eraser compartment!
I lost my interest in Sanrio sometime around my freshman year in high school but I pretty much grew up on Sanrio. At the very least, Sanrio resides in a special place in my heart. When I heard about Sanrio's 50th Anniversary festival that went down in Santa Monica Airport a week back, I just had to go to and check it out.
The event took place within the confines of a hanger and there was a massive amount of people there. Not surprised at all. What I found so special about this event were the many families that attended. I'd say that a good amount of the parents there were about my age and it's probably safe to say that these parents grew up on Sanrio just like I did and now being that Sanrio is still just as popular as it was when I was growing up, these parents are fondly remembering their past Sanrio experience, and sharing this festival experience with their kids!
As a kid, I never thought, nor did it ever occur to me that Sanrio was a massive thing. An influence if you will. It wasn't until I rekindled my past love for the company, being older, that I can see and acknowledge that Sanrio has had such a big impact and influence on a great deal of people. All the festival attendees, all the artists that contributed their Sanrio inspired art for the event...I found that realization to be quite striking.
I really hope Sanrio continues to be relevant in the years to come. It'd be a pretty cool thing to come back to a 75th anniversary festival and bring along my family and regale my kids about what Sanrio was to me when I was their age...For more photos from the festival, visit my 17thletter Photography fan page on Facebook!