Nadine Jarvis Challenges Traditional Approach to Cremation

Nadine Jarvis has turned the concept of the cremation vessel on its head with her Rest in Pieces, Birdfeeder, and pencil box projects. All of the projects utilize cremation ashes in unique and thought-provoking ways, and they are aimed at assisting in the grieving and healing process. Jarvis designed the projects with a focus on the concept of impermanence and renewal.

“I have always been fascinated with the life and death of objects”, Jarvis told Design Museum. She applies her research in this concept to represent the life, death, and renewal of people in projects that both memorialize the deceased and aid the grieving in letting go.

Rest in Pieces begins with the concept of the traditional cremation urn, created in ceramic, which is suspended from a tree. The cord that holds the urn has a lifespan of about one to three years; it gradually decays and allows the urn to drop to the ground and smash into pieces, releasing the ashes.

Birdfeeder brings the concepts of life and death together in a stark contrast. The exterior of the piece is created from either a mixture of cremation ashes and bird food, or just solid bird food with the ashes encased inside. The birds will nibble away at the exterior and, in the first case, excrete the ashes; or, in the second case, allow the ashes to be released as the exterior is broken down.

Rather than burden the grieving with task of scattering cremation ashes shortly after a death, both projects allow for an extended ceremonial period whence the process of letting go happens gradually over time, and the ashes are scattered naturally with the wind when the time comes.

Jarvis’s pencil boxes are perhaps the most creative, thought-provoking, and personal of these projects. In this project, the pencils are created using the carbon from cremation remains in place of the graphite in the lead—240 pencils can be made from the average cremains of one person. The lid of the box slides open to allow the retrieval of just one pencil at a time, which is sharpened on the end of the box, letting the shavings drop into the place of the used pencil. As the pencils are sharpened and used, new remains are created, and the box becomes an urn. A thin window across the top of the box reveals the remaining pencils.

The pencil box allows those dealing with loss to approach their grief step by step, at their own pace, with very tangible markers of progress; and the pencils, which can be used to create new works of art or assist with everyday tasks, allow the memories of the deceased to be renewed, the person reborn through these new creations. All of these projects allow in very unique ways for a tangible road map to ease and guide the mourning through their grief.

Although her ideas have thus far only made it to the gallery, they offer a lot to consider about the way we approach death, loss, grieving, and letting go. Should they ever be marketed to the consumer, these ideas have great potential to make waves in the way we approach cremation.