Thinking outside the box: MY CLEAN, GREEN CASKETS

BECS’ DESIGNS GIVE THE DECEASED A TRULY PERSONAL SEND-OFF

- Fleur Guthrie

Becs Bartells likes to play a little prank whenever a friend comes to stay. She tells them, without a hint of a smile, “Oh, I’ve made up a bed for you in the lounge”, and shows them to a pillow and duvet tucked into one of her cardboard coffins.

So far, she hasn’t managed to convince one of them to get in.

Caskets used to “freak out” Becs, too. But things have changed since her Nana Pearl’s funeral in 2011, when the industrial designer first had a thought to create something that not only looks different from a traditional timber or MDF casket, but is also better for the environment.

So a year ago – after designing and testing prototypes in her garage for several years and almost giving up – Becs launched her business Outside the Box Caskets, offering 100 percent natural and sustainable coffins in New Zealand. She’s since won gold in two Australasian design innovation awards.

“I never would have thought I’d be doing this,” says the 37-yearold, who often forgets she has a casket in the boot of her car, until she sees someone staring, while loading her groceries.

“When Nana Pearl died, we had a big funeral for her and I remember thinking how coffins scare me and that they all looked the same,” she recalls. “Nana had a very big personality – she worked in a fabric shop in Putaruru and was friends with everybody – yet her casket didn’t reflect that. It looked so cold. That’s when a cardboard one came to my mind.”