Changing the Material

Swedish industrial designer Liv Andersson aims to create products that are an adaptation to the environment, with a holistic view of the life of the product. This project, Dust to Dust, “aims to get a holistic picture of what happens to a person from the moment she dies till she is buried.” By incorporating sustainable design elements and materials, Andersson has created a unique line of caskets and cremation vessels that encourage eco-friendly burial and cremation – with style.

She has designed three distinct caskets – one quite classic, one simplistic and sleek, and one very conceptual and ultramodern. “It is hard to totally break with the traditions when designing a coffin,” she explains, so the line offers these various options to personalize the ceremony and disposition.

The products are made of a biodegradable chalk material, with a calcium that works as a neutralizer to the chemicals that can leak into burial grounds. And the material has a high energy content, so less energy needs to be added during the cremation process. No screws or lacquer or other materials are added to the designs, not even for the handles. Andersson designed a loose, reusable handle in solid wood for transportation of the caskets.

From the artist’s statement:

“I cannot change the contaminating burial methods at the moment, but I can change what is put into the incinerator or into the ground – the material.”

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