Foreverence, a company based in Minnesota, USA manufactures custom 3D printed funeral urns, like this one in the shape of a red 1957 Chevy.

A startup in Minnesota using 3D printing to create custom funeral urns, shaped to reflect the personalities of the people whose remains they hold.

Founded in 2013, Foreverence works with bereaved clients to design a vessel for ashes that best represent the life of the deceased.

Each urn is unique and can take the form of just about anything, ranging from cars to stetson hats, ballet slippers to… a hamburger?

Incredibly, one client had a funeral urn made in the shape of a burger with lettuce and pickles from the White Castle fast food chain. Perfect if you get the munchies in the afterlife.

But if we had to choose our favorite, it would be the urn made for former NASA engineer Felipe Herrera, which is a 22 inch replica of the space shuttle Columbia.

Foreverence made an Urn in the shape of Devo Energy Dome Hat

Each urn is made with a ceramic composite material using an industrial 3D printer, binder jetting the powder layer by layer, and then designers apply the final touches with paint and glaze.

Perhaps their most famous customer was their first, when Devo guitarist Bob Casale died in 2014 of heart failure. Casale’s family approached Foreverence to build an urn in the shape of the band’s iconic Energy Dome hat.

Foreverence created a pair of urns in the shape of the hat. One was given to Casale’s family members in Akron, Ohio, and the other to his relatives in Los Angeles. Each took about nine hours to print. The band members were overjoyed with the result:

“Your efforts filled a pressing need and provided an appropriate, custom resting places for Bob’s ashes. I can’t thank you enough for bringing a little positive into these dark days for us.”

Interviewed in The Huffington Post, Foreverence founder and CEO Pete Saari explained:

“There is inherent sadness and grief associated with death. Our mission is to add not only personality, character and individuality to each person’s memorial but possibly some relief and joy. If we can replace just a little sadness with just a little joy, then mission accomplished.”

As well as direct to customers, Foreverence also sells its urns through funeral directors. They don’t come cheap; each urn carries a cost of several thousand dollars. But for some families, that’s a small price to pay to honor the people they love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8yfy6iQwTg