Our Planet Kawaii Story 🌸

Bringing Cute, Colourful Joy to the UK 🪐✨

Welcome to Planet Kawaii, a family-run UK kawaii shop based on the Isle of Wight, bringing a little more colour, cuteness and happiness to everyday life. 💖

From kawaii stationery, plushies and shoe charms to keyrings, enamel pins, jewellery, lunch boxes, drinking bottles and cute accessories, we choose products that make us smile — and hopefully make you smile too.

I'm Lei, founder of Planet Kawaii, and at the heart of the business is my daughter, Yasmin. But the story behind Planet Kawaii actually started long before we ever thought about opening a shop.

Lei with her grandmother during a family visit to Hong Kong

A Family Connection to Asia 🌏

Hong Kong has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.

During my university years, I travelled there almost every summer to visit family and, especially, to spend time with my grandmother, who was incredibly special to me. 💕

Those trips weren't simply holidays. They were part of normal family life. I'd spend time with relatives, explore the streets and markets, pick up food for my grandmother and inevitably find myself wandering through Hong Kong's incredible shopping areas.

Lei shopping for oranges for her grandmother on a street in Hong Kong

Colour, Culture & Little Treasures ✨

And everywhere there was colour — cute stationery, enormous character displays, plushies, quirky accessories, colourful packaging and shops packed from floor to ceiling with things that somehow made ordinary everyday items feel exciting.

I loved it. 💖

Picking up oranges for my grandmother during one of my trips to Hong Kong. 🍊

Lei and young Yasmin celebrating Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

Then Along Came Yasmin... 💕

Years later, I became a mum — and I started sharing those experiences with Yasmin.

From a very young age, she travelled with me and experienced the colourful celebrations, food, shops and family traditions that had been part of my own life.

As she grew older, travelling and exploring became something we both loved. And unsurprisingly, so did finding cute things. 😂

Chinese New Year adventures with a very little Yasmin. 🧧💕

So... Why Couldn't We Have Something Like This at Home? 🎀

Whenever we returned to the UK — and particularly to the Isle of Wight — we noticed how difficult it was to find the same kind of fun, colourful shopping experience locally.

And then one day, Yasmin asked a very simple question:

"Why don't we open our own kawaii shop?" 💕

And really... why not?

That little question eventually became Planet Kawaii. 🪐✨

How Planet Kawaii Began 🌈

Planet Kawaii officially started in October 2024 as a small hobby business selling online. There wasn't a huge master plan behind it. It was something fun that Yasmin and I could enjoy together, inspired by the things we'd grown to love over the years.

What began as a little online project developed into our colourful Planet Kawaii pop-up shop, where we now meet customers face-to-face at events around the Isle of Wight.

Then, in 2026, we decided Planet Kawaii needed an online home of its own, giving customers across the UK somewhere to discover our growing collection of kawaii gifts, cute stationery, plushies, shoe charms and accessories.

And we're still growing. 💕

Yasmin beside a large cute character display during a family trip in Asia

What Kawaii Means to Us 🎀

The Japanese word kawaii (かわいい) means cute. But to us, kawaii isn't simply about how something looks. It's about those tiny things that make an ordinary day a little happier.

A cute pen that makes school or work more fun. ✏️ A little charm that shows off your personality. 🌸 A colourful keyring hanging from your bag. Or that ridiculously adorable plushie you absolutely didn't need... but somehow came home with anyway. 😂

For Yasmin, it's about colourful designs, cute characters and the Japanese and Korean trends she loves. For me, there's also nostalgia attached to it. Planet Kawaii is our way of bringing a little bit of that feeling home.

Welcome to Our Little Planet 🪐

Today, Planet Kawaii is still a small, independent family business run from the Isle of Wight.

We don't want to become a faceless online shop. We want someone discovering Planet Kawaii online to get the same feeling as someone who walks up to our colourful pastel stall at an event: "Ooh... what's THAT?" 👀💕

We want you to explore, discover something unexpected and hopefully leave with something that makes you smile.

Because sometimes you don't need a serious reason for something to make you happy. Sometimes it's enough that it's cute. 🌸

Welcome to Planet Kawaii.
Your daily dose of cuteness. 🪐💖