From a giant doughnut, a pirate ship and a large block of Lego: Inside the company that creates custom caskets for funerals – and the owner’s inspiration for the quirky idea
- Auckland resident Ross Hall runs coffin business Dying Art as a ‘passion project’
- He developed the radical business idea 15 years ago when drafting his own will
- Dying Art design custom-made caskets for their clients to be laid to rest in
New Zealanders with a sense of humour are being buried in giant cream-filled doughnuts, a pirate ship and even life-sized blocks of Lego.
The bizarre custom-made coffins are built to reflect the personality of the departed who will soon be laid to rest inside them.
Dying Art has designed hundreds of wacky final resting places and is so busy it has a team of 15 constructing them in its Auckland workshop.
Business owner Ross Hall came up with the colourful idea when drafting his own will 15 years ago.
One of the more popular caskets made by Dying Art for a client was a long-filled cream doughnut sculpted casket (pictured above)
Business owner Ross Hall (pictured above) came up with the colourful business idea when drafting up his own will 15 years ago
Other clients have requested they are buried in designs such as a pirate style ship (pictured above)
He had no desire to be buried in a bland brown box, and raised the idea of caskets with a difference with his then-partner.
The pair initially laughed off the radical suggestion, but six months later Mr Hall followed up the business idea.
He now enjoys making people smile on what is a sad day for grieving families.
‘We have had some fantastic responses back from families about what a difference the casket made on the day,’ Hall told Daily Mail Australia.
‘They (the caskets) provide a happy twist to a sad moment.’
Hall employs a team to work on the custom-made coffins, some of the designs taking two days to complete.
The nature of the job often requires them to ‘drop everything’ and getting to work as the requests need to be completed as soon as possible.
One of his favourite recent requests was a long cream-filled doughnut sculpted casket.
‘We used shaping foam and we glued it to the side of a standard casket… and then we spent about two days actually shaping the cream doughnut,’ he told the NZ Herald.
‘And then once we had a decent looking [doughnut] design, we went back in with acrylic paints.’
Another popular design created by the Dying Art team was inspired by a firetruck (pictured above)
Auckland based Dying Art design custom-made caskets (pictured above) which aim to reflect the personality of the people who will eventually be laid to rest inside them
A musically inspired coffin (pictured above) was one of the more innovative creations in recent years
Hall said his line of work is a ‘celebration of a life’, and working closely with funeral directors is a fascinating experience.
‘It has definitely changed my outlook on life… because now every day I wake up, I live that moment like it’s my last one,’ he said.
‘I get in contact with the funeral directors when the requests come in.. they then go back and forth with members of the public who are making the requests for their loved ones.
‘All our designs are environmentally friendly and I can’t stress enough how important it is we deliver on what people want.’
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