Kirimichan was designed by Ai Setani (瀬谷愛) who also designed Rilu Rilu Fairilu. Setani wanted to make something different from the usual Sanrio cuteness, and the character was inspired by a salmon her daughter liked when she was three. Kirimichan was originally created in 2013 as part of a in-house competition at Sanrio to create food based characters, and was then selected as the winner in an online poll. The egg yolk character Gudetama placed second in the same poll.
