Coffin or Batmobile? The Work of Gregor Haiduk

Credit: trendhunter.com

“To me, for example, a coffin is more than just a container fulfilling certain standards,” says Polish-born designer Gregor Haiduk. Haiduk has long been designing coffins that challenge our conception of what a traditional coffin ought to be; his visions include futuristic vessels with unprecedented curves and colors. “I design coffins, urns and tombs individually,” he explains, “adjusting [them] to the emotional and aesthetical needs [of others].”

“…a coffin is more than just a container fulfilling certain standards”

–Gregor Haiduk

Gregor Haiduk with one of his designs.
(credit: Coffin-Tec)

Take Haiduk’s 1998 design for a coffin that, frankly, looks like it rolled out of a Christopher Nolan production. It is an all-black, geometric vessel that walks the line between art-deco and out-of-this-world. It’s a far cry from the lacquered coffins we are used to seeing at a funeral, and some have taken to saying that Haiduk’s work is even disrespectful in its brazen nature.

This is where Haiduk’s work transcends the question of “what coffin should I pick?” to wonder something much more profound: is there any unspoken code as to what we can and cannot do regarding our end-of-life plans? We all live different lives, die different deaths – why shouldn’t our post-death arrangements become an extension of our personality, a reflection of the life we lived? This doesn’t have to mean picking a Batmobile coffin (but hey, go for it). It simply means having choices other than that same rectangular, pink satin-lined coffin.

“…why shouldn’t our post-death arrangements become an extension of our personality, a reflection of the life we lived?”

“The Classic”
(credit: ifitshipsithere.blogspot.com)

The traditional “Western” perception of death has finally begun to get shaken up a bit, thanks in particular to the aging of the baby boomer population. Death, it seems, is becoming something personal – and Haiduk seems to think so, too: “I am more occupied with the person being buried with [the coffin] and I try to transform [their] lifestyle and personality into its shape.” Haiduk is turning the funeral norms upside down, proposing that rather than make ourselves conform to an existing option, that we should instead make one for ourselves – and there’s an exciting element of freedom in that.

Explore more of SevenPonds’s Soulful Expressions here.