Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. I’m not sure if these funeral innovations are all born from necessity but they certainly give you something to think about.
IKEA Coffins
Not available in store I hasten to add, (maybe one day), but artist Joe Scanlan has written a book with instructions to build your own coffin using Ikea flat pack items! The full cost including purchase of the book and furniture comes in at around £250.
Webcast Funerals
Yes, you can watch a funeral live on the internet – but only by invitation and with a security code! This growing trend in America was created to allow family members who are unable to attend to watch the ceremony live. It has proved particularly popular in the Jewish community as their religion states that the body must be buried within 48 hours so families are not always able to make arrangements to be there in person. The practice has been criticised for providing a substitute for actual attendance but funeral directors who use the service claim this is not the case. They argue that it allows closure for those not physically present and helps with the grieving process.”East Devon Crematorium was the first in the UK to install a camera to make webcasting funerals possible.”
Cemeteries for the diehard Sports Fan
Hamburg SV football team have created a designated cemetery next to their stadium for fans. It came in response to having to refuse hundreds of requests by families to spread ashes on the pitch. You can now be buried or have your ashes buried within sight of the stadium.
FC Schalke, another German Bundesliga team also have a cemetery for devoted followers.
Barcelona based company Urna Bios have designed an urn with a dual purpose. The urn has a separate top section to allow a seed to germinate. As the seedling grows the roots come into contact with the ashes and eventually with biodegradation the whole thing will dissolve into the sub soil. They currently offer a choice of 6 different tree seeds and also urns for pet remains. The creative team behind the design, Roger and Gerard Moline hope that, “ Bios Urn changes the way people see death, converting the “end of life” into a transformation and a return to life through nature.”
urnabios.com
Online Memorial Funds
It is increasingly common to read an obituary which requests charity donations ‘in lieu of flowers’.
Memorial websites, too, have been with us for a while – usually a page or two containing facts, photos and favourite poems of the deceased. There are now companies offering templates to create your own memorial website that accepts secure card payments and standing orders! You can set up a fund that shows your donors how much has been raised. As the cost of funerals increase some people are asking for online donations to help pay for medical expenses or the funeral itself.
“19-year-old fundraiser and cancer patient Stephen Sutton raised an incredible £3.2 million for the Teenage Cancer Trust via an online donation website which will continue as a memorial fund after the sad news of his death on 14th May 2014.”
Social Media Memorials
Not strictly speaking an innovation in the funeral industry but illustrates how technology has changed our approach to death and those bereaved.
Around 70% of us own a smartphone in the UK and use of social media has increased rapidly in the last five years. More than 50% of the UK population have created a Facebook page and there are over 30 million live Twitter accounts. It was, perhaps, inevitable that these sites would be used as virtual memorials and forums for people to commemorate their loved one’s or discuss their feelings of bereavement. Is it a good thing? There are, of course, risks – you cannot control other people’s posts and you could be subject to malicious messages or images . Fortunately, these can be deleted but for some the emotional damage is already done! Social media mourning is a phenomenon that many people are just not comfortable with – the old school notion that grieving should be a private process not a public or interactive one. There is also the chance that you will have public grieving imposed on you by well meaning fellow users. It can be very distressing for those mourning to be constantly receiving pictures and messages of the person who has died – like a round the clock reminder of their loss.
Maybe we should embrace it as a very positive aspect of modern technology. We are, generally, as a nation, reluctant to talk about death and dying. If social media sites enable us to talk more openly about the issues then surely that is a good thing. As the majority of social media users are younger people, 25 – 34 year olds, there is a real possibility that the next generation won’t see death as such a taboo subject.
All in all, it seems that, in death, as in life, we are all affected by advances in technology.
