Choosing a Sanrio rug

A Sanrio rug starts with one question: who's your favorite? Each Sanrio character has its own look and its own color, so the rug follows the character: sky blue for Cinnamoroll, soft pink for My Melody, black and purple for Kuromi, butter yellow for Pompompurin, red and white for Hello Kitty. The classic shapes are a round rug with a single character's face, and a rug cut to the character's outline. For a room shared by fans of different characters, or a collector who loves them all, a group design with the whole family is the answer. Every rug is printed into soft velvet and goes in the washing machine.

Small gift, big smile

Sanrio was founded in Japan in 1960 by Shintaro Tsuji, and it took the name Sanrio in 1973. Its idea was simple: that small gifts, decorated with cute characters, could bring people closer. Hello Kitty arrived in 1974, and the company went on to create hundreds of characters, becoming one of the great sources of kawaii, the Japanese culture of cuteness that spread around the world. Today Sanrio characters appear on everything from stationery and plush toys to fashion, games and two theme parks in Japan, Sanrio Puroland near Tokyo and Harmonyland in Oita.

The Sanrio family

Character	Debut	Who they are	Rug colors
Hello Kitty	1974	A cheerful girl with a red bow, from the suburbs of London	White, red, pink
My Melody	1975	A sweet, gentle rabbit in a pink hood	Pink and white
Little Twin Stars	1975	Kiki and Lala, twins from the stars	Pastel blue, pink, lilac
Keroppi	1988	A happy frog who loves to swim	Green and white
Pochacco	1989	A curious white puppy who loves sports	White and black
Badtz-Maru	1993	A mischievous penguin with spiky hair	Black and white
Pompompurin	1996	A golden retriever with a brown beret	Yellow and brown
Cinnamoroll	2001	A white puppy who flies with his long ears	White and sky blue
Kuromi	2005	My Melody's punk rival, in a black jester hood	Black, purple, pink
Gudetama	2013	A lazy egg yolk who can't be bothered	Yellow and white

Fans usually have one favorite character, so a Hello Kitty fan and a Kuromi fan may want very different rugs.

Four of the best-known characters have pages of their own: Hello Kitty rugs, My Melody rugs, Kuromi rugs and Cinnamoroll rugs.

Round face rugs

Sanrio characters are drawn with simple, rounded faces, which makes them a natural fit for round rugs. A single face, Cinnamoroll's floppy ears, Pompompurin's beret or My Melody's hood, fills a 3.3 to 4.6 ft (100 to 140 cm) circle and becomes the center of a room. For a bigger room, 5.2 or 5.9 ft (160 or 180 cm) round rugs give the character more space. Our round rugs page shows how each size looks.

Character-shaped rugs

A rug cut to the outline of a character is the most charming Sanrio design. Kuromi's hood, with its pointed ears and pink skull, Cinnamoroll's long ears, Hello Kitty's bow and head, My Melody's rounded hood: each makes a recognizable silhouette. Our shaped rugs come in sizes from 2.6×2.6 up to 5.2×5.9 ft (80×80 to 160×180 cm). A small one beside a bed is sweet; a large one in the middle of the floor is a statement.

A Sanrio bedroom

A Sanrio bedroom works at every age, and the rug is usually where it starts:

• A little child's room: one big, bright character on a round rug, with matching bedding and a few plush toys.
• A shared room: two characters side by side, or two rugs, one per child, so nobody has to compromise on a favorite.
• A teen's room: Kuromi in black and purple, or a soft pastel group design, with fairy lights and a mirror.
• An adult's room: a single small character in the center of a pale rug, or a pastel pattern that reads like a print.

For the softest bedside rug, choose Premium, 7 mm plush velvet on a bamboo and cotton back, about 700 g/m². Our bedroom rugs page has more layouts.

My Melody and Kuromi

My Melody and Kuromi are Sanrio's favorite pair of opposites. Kuromi first appeared in 2005 in the anime Onegai My Melody as Melody's self-declared rival, a mischievous punk in a black hood, but she has a softer side that fans adore, and a fan base that has grown to rival Melody's own. Fans tend to love one or the other, or both. A split design, Melody's pink on one half and Kuromi's black and purple on the other, is a clever rug for sisters, roommates or a fan who can't choose.

Cinnamoroll's sky

Cinnamoroll, the white puppy with a curly tail like a cinnamon roll, flies by flapping his long ears, and he has been one of Sanrio's most popular characters for years, topping its annual character ranking several times recently. His sky blue and white palette is the calmest of all the Sanrio colors. A Cinnamoroll design, the puppy floating among soft clouds, is an especially restful rug for a nursery or a bedroom.

Gudetama in the kitchen

Gudetama, a lazy egg yolk who lies around on a plate of egg white and would rather do nothing at all, is the perfect Sanrio character for a kitchen. A Gudetama rug in front of the stove or the counter is funny, friendly and, on a non-slip Standard backing, practical. Our kitchen rugs have more ideas for the room.

Little Twin Stars and the night sky

Kiki and Lala, the Little Twin Stars, live among the stars in soft pastel skies. Their designs, with stars, clouds and dreamy blues, pinks and lilacs, make one of the prettiest Sanrio rugs for a nursery or a girl's bedroom, gentle enough to suit a room for years.

Kawaii rooms and the pastel look

Kawaii decor is built on soft pastels, rounded shapes and a few favorite characters: think pale pink and baby blue walls, white furniture, plush toys on the bed, heart-shaped mirrors and string lights. A Sanrio rug anchors it. If you want the look without a specific character, our cute rugs have pastel patterns and soft designs, and our bow rugs carry the ribbon motif so many kawaii rooms share. For another beloved Japanese character family, see our Chiikawa rugs.

Nurseries

Sanrio characters are a nursery favorite: gentle faces, soft colors and characters parents often remember from their own childhoods. For a nursery, choose pale designs, Cinnamoroll, My Melody or Little Twin Stars, rather than bold reds or blacks. Premium's plush velvet is soft for tummy time, and Standard's non-slip back is the better choice once your child starts walking on a smooth floor. Our kids and nursery rugs have more ideas.

Dorms and first apartments

For many students, a Sanrio rug is the first piece of decor that makes a dorm room feel like theirs. A 3.3×5 ft rug fits between most dorm beds; a round rug fits under a desk chair. Choose Standard there: its 5 mm crushed velvet on a non-slip faux leather back, about 500 g/m², lets chair wheels roll freely and stays put on hard floors. When the semester ends, it goes in the washing machine before it goes home.

For collectors

Sanrio has one of the largest adult fan communities in the world, with collectors who have been buying plush, stationery and figures for decades and who often display them on shelves and in glass cabinets. A rug that matches a display, a favorite character or a favorite era, ties the room together. If you have a specific design in mind, our custom rugs can print it in any size up to 5′11″ × 10′. Please only send artwork you're allowed to use; custom rugs are made just for you and can't be returned.

Sizes at a glance

A single face suits a 3.3 to 4.6 ft (100 to 140 cm) round rug; a character-shaped rug works from 2.6×2.6 ft (80×80 cm) by the bed up to 5.2×5.9 ft (160×180 cm) as a centerpiece. A group of friends suits a 4×6 or 5×7 ft rectangle. For a doorway or a bathroom vanity, a 2×3 or 2.6×3.9 ft rug is right.

Gifts

A Sanrio rug is a lovely gift for a child redecorating a bedroom, a student moving into a dorm, a new parent preparing a nursery or a friend who has collected Sanrio since childhood. If you aren't sure which character to choose, Hello Kitty and Cinnamoroll are the safest. Every rug is printed to order in 1–3 business days and ships from Turkey; US delivery usually takes 2–5 business days after that. Unused rugs can be returned within 30 days on US orders.

Care

Machine wash on a gentle, cold cycle and let it air dry flat. Vacuum on a low setting between washes, and blot spills with cold water right away. The design is printed into the fibers, so pastels stay soft and blacks stay deep.

A note on the characters

Puroland and the fan vote

Sanrio's characters have a home of their own: Sanrio Puroland, an indoor theme park in Tama, near Tokyo, which opened in 1990 and hosts parades, shows and character meet-and-greets all year. Every year, Sanrio also holds a character ranking in which fans vote for their favorites, and the results are followed closely by collectors around the world.

Those traditions make a rug a small piece of fandom. A design of a castle-like theme park with tiny characters waving from the windows suits a child's bedroom, and a pastel scoreboard with your own personal ranking, your favorite at the top, is a playful, personal piece for a collector's shelf corner.

Fans who have visited Puroland often choose a rug with their favorite character's parade float or stage colors, a souvenir from a magical day.

Pastel pinks, mints and lilacs suit nearly every Sanrio character, so the rug works for fans of any of them.

Padrift is an independent studio. Sanrio and its characters are named to describe what our designs are inspired by; we are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Sanrio.