basalt urn by Linda Vránová from czech republic

I decided to fill in an application for Design for death because I found this topic as really interesting and important for any developed society. It seems to me that for most of people it’s still taboo. And that’s what I want to change.
The main idea of my work is that we don’t have to be ashamed of death. Quite the contrary. We can celebrate the remember of ones that we loved everyday and keep it in our minds. I was trying to put an aspect of being honest and opened minded in questions surrounding death and dying into my cast basalt urn.
The urn contains of two parts. The outer part of the urn is made of cast basalt. This material has amazing features. It is said that it will last forever. That is why it is suitable for preserving memory of a deceased person.
The ash is placed in the inner part which is made of blown glass where the name and the date of death can be written.
The urn is designed as an interior sculpture. It has a shape of an egg symbolizing connection between life and death, between the beginning and the end.
Another contrast is the black colour of the basalt and the grey colour of the ash.
The urn might be given into two positions.
The “closed” position - the basalt parts stick together because of the glass ball that creates some kind of lock.
The “opened” position - the ash of a deceased person is visible in the uncovered glass ball.
When I was doing my research on a products that are available in this ‘’on the edge’’ area and I was totally disappointed. I couldn’t imagine preserving honor and remember of my relatives in that way.
It was one of the reasons why I decided to make a new design of the urn.
In my work I was trying to focus more on the clear design based on deep thoughts. As clear design as the only soul of a deceased loved one is.