Round Coffin display case

Gary from NR motors asked me to build a display case for his wake boards

Here is the finished product in his show room

This case is 7' tall

Canadian Funeral pyre

One of the issues that arises is how to integrate funeral customs that originate outside of the north american context. The funeral pyre is an excellent example. Pyre is from the greek meaning fire. It is when a structure of wood is created and the body is placed on the structure while it is lit on fire. In the viking context the funeral pyre is constructed on a boat.

(picture from Wikipedia)

Canadians trying to recreate this tradition utilize modern day crematoriums. One of our simple pine boxes can also faciliate this fire by creating a pure fire without extra material commonly contained in the modern day casket.

Coffin Violin Case

Here is a picture of the violin case I am making for Ariel.

Hardwood Box

I want to thank the Baha'i community in Quesnel for requesting this custom hardwood box. I think it turned out great. They requested that it be finished and have regular handles. Here is the the completed box.

Quesnel Home Show

The Quesnel homeshow was a great success. We had lots of input and people were very receptive to the concept of final resting boxes as furniture.





Here Ron is getting measured for a box.


Noah helped me on friday and Saturday. Bax came out for Sunday to help with sales.

Judy Easy was the winner of the draw for a free Box.

Interviews

I was very happy with both the CBC interview and the PG citizen interview. I will post the link if anyone is interested.
http://www.cbc.ca/daybreaknorth/daybreak_again.html#monday
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20090323182934/local/news/furniture-for-now-and-forever.html

I also was interviewed on Mar 27th by Brian Allen on CKNX north of Toronto. He must have seen the article in the citizen.
http://www.am920.ca/program_schedule.php?area=show&show_id=35

(right click on fridays show, open link and then listen to last 10 minutes of show)

My helpers

I was very proud to have both Noah and Baxter at the show on Friday night. They both helped with the set up and engaged with some of the visitors.

Michelle my friend from the hospital came to assit on Sunday. She was able to provide an insiders view as she had worked the trade show circuit when she was younger.

CBC interview

I received a call from Jenifer who does the daybreak North show on CBC. Apparently her sister was the person who won the box at the homeshow. I also spoke with her briefly at the homeshow and she would like to come out to my workshop and interview me. I am very excited. I am glad it is radio as my shop is extremely messy.

Interesting Stat's from PG Homeshow

I gathered the following stat's from people who filled out my survey information.
Of the 159 surveys that were completed:
61.6% were not aware they could supply their own box for a funeral
64.8% saw price as a factor in chosing their box
55% liked bookshelf as their storage solution of choice
Only 5.7% would not consider final resting boxes as furniture
23.3% selected "maybe" when asked would they consider boxes as furniture
18.9% would utilize boxes as furniture (as long as it would not look like a casket)
45.3% would utilize boxes as furniture.
58.5% of people would like their boxes personalized by family and friends
92.4 % of people would like a greener option for their funeral

I would be very curious to see if similar findings would occur in other larger centre's.

Thank-you Elizabeth

Elizabeth, the retired hospital chaplain has been an incredible asset in promoting this product to the public. She has met half the city in the context of a crisis and responded as caring professional. Now she can talk with them and others about an idea that will change the funeral industry forever.

My friend Dave

I first met Dave just over a year ago. He is a living paradox. One one hand he is a grown up Dennis the Menace then at other times he is an intellect with a broad knowledge base. The hard thing is to determine who he is when he is giving business advice.

Dave was instrumental in helping me get the home show brochure together. After numerous revisions we had a product that was ready for the public.

Dave also helped set up the booth along with my two oldest sons.

Thanks Pat for the shirts

The shirts have been a hit at the homeshow. My mother-in-law Pat helped put them together. We decided on a professional look on the front with the logo. Then on the back we put our company's motto.

One lady saw Noah's T shirt asked where the booth was and came to check it out.

Is it a coffin, no it's furniture what to you mean it's both?

The body language at the homeshow has been awesome to see. I think many people get my product when the hear my name (especially if you let their mind wander) So people would look up to the sign and see Simple Pine Boxes. Then they would see the furniture options and be confused. Some would playfully suggest "Oh I thought you were selling coffins?" The door then opens to healthy dialogue.

Some people don't get it until you explain in detail. Some react with shock and horror and rush away from the booth. Others avoid it as soon as they see the name and stay to the outside of the walkway.

Others approach the booth with curiousity and want to talk.

SPB The Trojan Horse of the Prince George Homeshow

When you make a product for the death care industry it is always an issue how you choose to market to the general public. When I heard the homeshow was coming to town I thought this would be a great opportunity to get out to the public and show my wares. I struggled with the display for the homeshow as to how obvious I would make it that my furniture options could also be used as a final resting box. My friend Dave who helped me design the pamphlet wanted me to put rope handles on the tapered box table box. I decided that the focus of the homeshow was to assist the public to see our products in a neutral light. Since most people deny death and some are afraid to even have the faintest reminder of death I thought that the more subtle I was with the display the better.

We will see what happens.

Signage for homeshow

Here is a picture of the signs. I initially thought about getting a vinyl sign but I realized that it doesn't fit the image of the company. I decided it would be more appropriate to put the sign on wood. Bax helped with the painting of the large sign and traced the outline for the logo.

Prince George Home show

My life has been very busy lately when I received confirmation that I am in the home show. I thought that this would be the best opportunity to launch my business. It is this March 13th - 15th. I have asked my friend Elizabeth who is a retired hospital chaplain to help me out with sales Noah will help me out on friday (he is gone the rest of the weekend) The key is for this show is to highlight my products as furniture and get my concept out into the Prince George community.

I did some internet searches and looked at other people's displays. I think the key is to have a visually dramatic display without looking too busy. I will keep you posted as the display develops.

Here is a rough prototype of what my space will look like.


I think the 2 bookshelves should go along the back wall. Over the back of the display I will get a banner of Simple Pine Boxes that will be 2' x 8' long. There will be a podium in the front right with a bench box behind. The rest of the display will feature my boxes as upright furniture.

Blanket Box

While I was making a new design I created a box with several wide cracks that required wood infill. I initially thought of 1/4" plywood splines. As I was playing around with the concept I was searching through my discarded wood ends. I stumbled across some cedar strips from my grandmothers box and realized that these would be perfect infill strips. The box could then be used as a hope chest or blanket box before it becomes a final resting box.

$100 casket design

I built a casket for just over $100 yesterday. I was thinking that for those people who chose to get creamated this would be a very affordable option. Most people that I talk to who are being cremated say "I don't need a box". What they don't realize is that they need to be transported and cremated in an approved container. What this usually means is that the funeral home will sell them a "transport container" which essentially is a sturdy cardboard box. They usually charge the family $150-$200 for this box even though it costs them less than $50.

This leaves me several options for this $100 box. I could sell plans online for $10. I could see if any hardware store would be willing to sell kits. I could have a display box with several kits inside. I think I could sell the ready made kits for $200.

For $250 I could sell the box assembled and delivered within the city of Prince George.

The last option that I came up with I think is the best from a participatory point of view. I could talk to Church groups and service organizations about setting up classes for people to build their own box. It would only take a half day for basic assembly. This would provide people to come together and discuss death in an open forum. Once assembled people could use this box as storage prior to it's final purpose.