Griet Bertels is a kindergarten teacher from Belgium. At the age of 18 she first imagined and drew Rutje and not much later Rube joined the party. Since then the three of them are inseparable!
Rube & Rutje were first introduced on the walls of her kindergarten classroom. To her great pleasure, Griet noticed that both the children in the classroom and the parents and grandparents loved the duo. Big or small, young or old, everyone fell for the charms and naive purity of the two friends. After all the encouragement Griet decided to go a step further with her spiritual children. She started writing short texts and poems with meaningful messages with Rube & Rutje in the leading role.
Watch the video below to find out more about Rube & Rutje's 'creative mom'.
Griet Bertels
Rube & Rutje are soulmates. They originated from the creative mind of the Belgian kindergarten teacher and illustrator, Griet Bertels.
The two characters quickly became best friends with all the children in her classroom because of their zest for life and the appearance of the drawings fitting in very well with this group.
Through Rube & Rutje children learn in a simple and recognizable way that you can get along well with each other despite the fact that you have different personalities and hobbies. This creates a warm, fun and loving world, in which people care about each other.
The story of Rube & Rutje
Rascal and daredevil are words that describe Rube and tomfoolery is his specialty. But don't be fooled, although Rube likes to pretend to be the big hero, he secretly has a small (sometimes frightened) heart.
Rube has big dreams. On the same day he effortlessly changes from pirate to explorer, from astronaut to lion tamer. What he really wants to become later, he doesn't know yet, because he still wants to discover so much! Rube always wants to know the ins and outs of everything that comes his way. He's very curious and has a knack for unsolved mysteries. Are you going to explore with him and Rutje?
​
RUBE
FiguRINES
Rutje may look very sweet and cute, but she is at least as tough as Rube... maybe even tougher... but with a skirt. She can be nice and girly and sometimes feels like a real princess but beware! Princesses also like to play in the mud and don't care about a scratch more or less.
​
She has a strong temperament and really knows what she wants. But above all, Rutje is a sweet girl with a thirst for adventure, who just likes to have fun with everyone. Are you going on an adventure with this heroic girl?
RUTJE
Oscar is a friend of Rube and Rutje. Oscar became very ill a while ago.
He still has to go to the hospital regularly and he also has to rest a lot.
​
That's why Oscar can't just go on holiday now, but he can go to Villa Rozerood. There is a nurse who can take care of him and other sick children if necessary.
​
And there are also many nice people who do crafts or play games with the children.
Villa Rozerood is in De Panne, close to the sea. Oscar, Rube and Rutje sometimes meet on the beach to build a giant sand castle.