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Colourful coffins lighten mood at funerals

Published:Friday | April 16, 2021 | 12:13 AM
This photo provided by Ross Hall shows a cream doughnut-shaped coffin for the funeral of Phil McLean outside a church in Tauranga, New Zealand, on Feb 17. Auckland company Dying Art makes unique custom caskets which reflect the people who will eventually l
This photo provided by Ross Hall shows a cream doughnut-shaped coffin for the funeral of Phil McLean outside a church in Tauranga, New Zealand, on Feb 17. Auckland company Dying Art makes unique custom caskets which reflect the people who will eventually lay inside them, whether it’s a love for fire engines, a cream doughnut or Lego.

WELLINGTON (AP):

When the pall-bearers brought Phil McLean’s coffin into the chapel, there were gasps before a wave of laughter rippled through the hundreds of mourners.

The coffin was a giant cream doughnut.

“It overshadowed the sadness and the hard times in the last few weeks,” said his widow, Debra. “The final memory in everyone’s mind was of that doughnut, and Phil’s sense of humour.”

The doughnut was the latest creation by Phil’s cousin Ross Hall, who runs a business in Auckland, New Zealand, called Dying Art, which custom-builds colourful coffins.

Other creations by Hall include a sailboat, a fire truck, a chocolate bar and Lego blocks. There have been glittering coffins covered in fake jewels, a casket inspired by the movie The Matrix, and plenty of coffins depicting people’s favourite beaches and holiday spots.

“There are people who are happy with a brown mahogany box and that’s great,” said Hall. “But if they want to shout it out, I’m here to do it for them.”

Writing a will

The idea first came to Hall about 15 years ago when he was writing a will and contemplating his own death.

“How do I want to go out?” he thought to himself, deciding it wouldn’t be like everyone else. “So I put in my will that I want a red box with flames on it.”

Six months later, Hall, whose other business is a signage and graphics company, decided to get serious. He approached a few funeral directors who looked at him with interest and scepticism. But over time, the idea took hold.

Hall begins with special-made blank coffins and uses fibreboard and plywood to add details. A latex digital printer is used for the designs. Some orders are particularly complex, like the sailboat, which included a keel and rudder, cabin, sails, even metal railings and pulleys.

Hall said the tone of funerals has changed markedly over recent years.

“People now think it’s a celebration of life rather than a mourning of death,” he said. And they’ve been willing to throw out stuffy conventions in favour of getting something unique.

But, a doughnut?

Debra McLean said she and her late husband, who was 68 when he died in February, used to tour the country in their motorhome and Phil loved comparing cream doughnuts in every small town, considering himself something of a connoisseur.

After Phil was diagnosed with bowel cancer, he had time to think about his funeral and, along with his wife and cousin, came up with the idea for the doughnut coffin. Debra said they even had 150 doughnuts delivered to the funeral in Tauranga from Phil’s favourite bakery in Whitianga, more than 160 kilometres away.