Death & the Salesmen

Jeremy Smith

1st December, 2003

Expensive, polluting, unnatural and booming.
Jeremy Smith investigates the ‘death-care industry’

‘If you desire an everlasting connection and closeness to the one you have lost, the LifeGem is right for you. Each LifeGem, as a celebration of life, tells a unique story and represents a new beginning. This closeness and mobility, offered only by a LifeGem, will help you keep your loved one with you and in your life at all times.’

A Lifegem is a diamond created from the carbonised remains of a corpse. The ‘closeness and mobility’ refers to the fact that once set in a ring, your loved one will be very much close at hand wherever you go.

Should a LifeGem not appeal, then Eternal Reefs could mix your ashes with concrete to create an artificial reef (with a brass plaque bearing your name), which will then be sunk onto the ocean floor. Or the Summum Organisation could wrap you up like an Egyptian mummy, a process it believes ‘could be appealing to anyone who works hard at staying in shape’, adding ‘With the increasing number of people joining health clubs and becoming more health conscious, why not end up on a high note?’

Not dramatic enough? Then, for $5,300 the Celestis Foundation’s ‘Earthview service’ will shoot ‘a...

 

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