For expectant mothers, there can be a disconnect between what is happening to their pregnant bodies on the outside, and what is happening with the baby on the inside. To help these mothers learn about what's happening to them inside and out comes the Mother Book, a beautiful pregnancy calendar that actually grows along with you as your pregnancy comes to term.
Less a book than a paper sculpture, the Mother book mirrors the 40 weeks of a typical pregnancy. Each page represents a single week of the pregnancy, and as the fetus grows, so does an embossed representation of a pregnant mother's torso in the middle of each page.
But it's the designs that swirl around this pregnant belly that are the true draw for me. Designed by ad agency Dentsu for Kishokai Medical Corporation, a Japanese medical services firm, they're a playful take on what actually occurs with the fetus during each week of pregnancy. For example, to show when the size of the baby first becomes measurable, there's a ruler on the side of week 6. In week 15, fingerprints begin to form on the baby, which you can see embossed into the page. A Coriolis effect swirls around week 25, marking when the baby first begins to swim in amniotic fluids. And so on.
Better yet, this beautiful papercraft representation isn't just some concept: Kishokai Medical Corporation started distributing copies to pregnant mothers in September.
[h/t: Spoon Tamago]