Thomas, the stray cat who struck lucky when he turned up on the doorstep of Oxfordshire artist Ann Edwards, has become a major star in giftware in Japan. Cartoon-style pictures of the handsome black and white moggy in a variety of poses stole the show at the prestigious British Fair in Osaka and earned him the official new title of Thomas Nikochan – or pussycat in Japanese. The theme of this year’s event was the Cotswolds and Ann unveiled her new Cotswolds Cats collection, which shows Thomas exploring the English countryside and enjoying a traditional cream tea, on a product range that includes shirts, mugs, pen sets and stationery sets. “It was amazing, everyone wanted a piece from Thomas’ giftware range and there were crowds queuing at the stand wanting me to sign everything from tea towels to T-shirts,” said Ann. “The Japanese love to collect English homewares, one couple travelled overnight for 10 hours just to come and see us, and we’re thrilled that Thomas is now such a VIP.”

Such was her success that she has now been asked to design an exclusive range of products to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit for a chain of department stores in Korea.

The British Fair, now in its 43rd year and held at Hankyu Corporation’s department store in the centre of Osaka, attracted up to a million visitors. Other exhibitors included Huffkins, the Cotswold Bakers and Tea Shops, and The Pudding Club and sales at the event exceeded £1.8 million in just seven days.

Just before her trip to Japan, Ann spent a successful few days at the Brand Licensing Europe Show at Olympia, where she attracted a huge amount of interest in the launch of The Country Cats and Cool for Cats, two more giftware collections featuring Thomas’ adventures.

“It was a terrific show, everyone just loves Thomas,” she said. “We’re already in talks about developing him as a character property across a wide range of products, including giftware and apparel for the teenage/adult female market in Brazil, as well as separate discussions for the European, Japanese and American markets, which is just fantastic.”

Next year, Ann will be hoping to capitalise on Thomas’ success when she launches more new ranges at Spring Fair International in Birmingham in February, and goes Stateside to the Surtex art licensing trade show in New York in May 2011.

In the UK, her products are already being sold by major High Street retailers and she exports to more than 40 other countries worldwide.