A couple of weeks ago, Keith and I attended the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand’s conference and one highlight was seeing some of the new services available for ashes.
In years gone by the options were pretty much limited to ashes burial either in a cemetery or privately, or scattering. Both of these options remain popular but there are now also some very creative ways of remembering a loved one.
We saw examples of the Reterniti Stone whereby all of the ashes are converted into stone. This could be one stone or several smaller ones. They are beautifully presented and very tactile. We have display samples to see here at Gillions. For more info go to www.reternti.com
Local company, Tributes Funeral Supplies, offer a wide range of personalised scattertubes, urns, candles and memorial products. They are constantly innovating and focus on using local artisans to craft their offerings. Once again we have samples of their work at Gillions. You can also see their range
www.funeralsupplies.co.nz
Did you know you can now have your loved one’s ashes converted into a diamond? Previously this was available overseas but there is now an option in New Zealand. We do not have any samples but can let you know more if you are interested.
A lovely and more modest option is to have a portion of ashes incorporated into glass beads, a sphere or placed in an ashes pendant.
Finally …there is StardustME. This is a new company which can literally send a tiny portion of your ashes into space. They weren’t at the conference but were featured in our industry magazine recently.
On another note, there has been increasing interest in jewellery made with a loved one’s fingerprint. If this interests you - let us know and we can organise that before the cremation.