Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2010

Courtesy of KHA Japan

As any Japanese parent can tell you, otete and anyo are the commonly accepted terms for a baby’s handy-wandies and tootsies. And as those same parents will also confirm, babies don’t stay babies for long. Rezon, the product wing of Tokyo design firm Kawano Hideo Activity Inc, has hit on a neat way to commemorate that most precious moment in a child’s life. In what it claims to be a world first, the company is offering custom-made, full-scale stamps of babies’ hands and feet. Each is engraved with the little one’s name and date of birth, and comes housed in a wooden box to provide a lasting keepsake. International shipping is also offered.

Otete & Anyo, ¥8,800 each. Available via www.otetetoanyo.com