Rest in peach? Personalised urns to overcome taboos

Quirky and unique: Long’s (left) urn features a star with vibrant orange and blue stripes, while Tan’s urn has a pebble-shaped design with a wavy rainbow pattern.

MOST cremation urns in Singapore are plain, functional vessels to hold cremated remains.

A new project called HappyUrns hopes to change that by transforming urns into “conversation pieces” to encourage dialogue and raise awareness about end-of-life matters.

The project team aims to take the urn, which is often viewed as a symbol of death, and transform it into a celebration of a person’s life.

HappyUrns was commissioned by the Lien Foundation and Ang Chin Moh Foundation, in collaboration with the Design Innovation team from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

Working with seven elderly residents of St Joseph’s Home, HappyUrns created personalised urns that reflected who they are and how they want to be remembered.The project kicked off in 2019 with the designers getting to know the residents – trying to understand their individual stories, character, and what they care about.

Three of the residents – Mary Tan, Celine Yeo and Anthony Long – met with design engineers from the SUTD Design Innovation team, ​Tan Wei Hua and Amanda Swee, on Sept 10, 2019.

The engineers then worked with two main ceramicists from The 8th Floor Creative Space and The Clay People to create urns that would represent each individual and be a cherished reminder for their loved ones when they pass on.

The urns are also part of a virtual exhibition, Residents’ Urns, on HappyUrn’s website – complete with quirky descriptions that encapsulate how each resident inspired his or her design.

The HappyUrns project, which was led by Professor Kristin Lee Wood, the director of Design Innovation at SUTD, was a spin-off from the Lien Foundation’s Happy Coffins project of 2010 that also sought to tackle the subject of mortality.

When asked what colour she would like for her urn design, Tan responded: “Would it be possible to have a rainbow?”

She ultimately picked a pebble-shaped design with a wavy pattern.

Yeo chose a design which featured youths as three angels holding up her heart. The wings of the angels are hinted at through the use of a different coloured glaze.

Unfortunately, Yeo never got to see the completed urn as she died last September.

The final creation was given to her family, who later placed her ashes in the urn.

What struck Long for an urn design were bright colours and symbols. His urn features a star with vibrant orange and blue stripes. — The Straits Times/ANN