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I Turned Bones Of 200 People Into Dinnerware To Host An Unusual Dinner, And Now It’s A Business
When I watched my grandfather pass away in his home it had a profound impact on my outlook. Home is a place that familiar, average, and routine, and his passing in that environment helped normalize his death and ideas of my own mortality. I wanted to create an art piece that allowed other people to have that same experience – confronting mortality in everyday life.
I began collecting human remains off the Internet from bone dealers who typically sell to medical professionals and oddity collectors. I purchased 200 bones, each formerly belonging to 200 different people.
With a background in ceramics, I knew that bone ash was a common ingredient in glaze so I developed a special recipe using typical ingredients like clay, silica, and feldspar, and added my freshly fired, crushed and powdered human bone ash.
I spent the next 4 months designing and producing an 8-person dinner service. Once it was completed, I coated each piece in my human ash glaze and fired the work in a kiln to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit, melting the glaze onto the dinnerware. The result was a glossy pale blue glaze covering functional cups, mugs, plates, and bowls. This is where my “Nourish” dinnerware series was born.
To celebrate the completion of the Nourish series, I held a dinner party where I invited guests to dine on wares. I served pork tenderloin, asparagus, and quinoa salad, while my guests discussed their experiences, views on death, and outlook on mortality. The entire glaze-making process and dining experience was documented in a beautiful video.
As I began to tell people about my conceptual dinnerware series, I started to get a surprising request. People began asking me to make custom pieces using their passed loved one’s ashes. Rather than observing a picture or cremation urn on a shelf, they wanted an interactive way to fold the memory of their loved one’s into everyday life. It is a way to keep them close.
Based on this idea, I launched Chronicle Cremation Designs in October 2016, offering custom memorial objects like coffee mugs, cremation jewelry, luminaries, and more. What began as an art project inspired by tragedy is now a business changing how we think about death and memorization.
More info: cremationdesigns.com
RELATED:
I purchased 200 human bones online from bone dealers each formerly belonging to 200 different people
I knew that bone ash was a common ingredient in glaze so I developed a special recipe and used them in making an 8-person dinner service
Firstly I processed the bones by turning it into a powder
Then I made the dinnerware
I coated each piece in my human ash glaze and fired the work in a kiln to 2,400 degrees
The result was a glossy pale blue glaze covering functional cups, mugs, plates, and bowls
To celebrate the completion of the Nourish series, I held a dinner party
After it people began asking me to make custom pieces using their passed loved one’s ashes
Rather than observing a picture or cremation urn on a shelf, they wanted an interactive way to fold the memory of their loved one’s into everyday life
It is a way to keep them close
Based on this idea, I launched a website, offering custom memorial objects like coffee mugs, cremation jewelry and more
What began as an art project inspired by tragedy is now a business changing how we think about death and memorization
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What do you think ?
Grace Robertson 9 years ago
To eat dinner off of my dead mother and father is not something I want to do. This is just so disturbing. It reminds me of what the Nazis did to victims of the death camps. They utilize everything from the skin to make book covers,lamp shades, and clothing, to the hair to make stuffing for furniture. Turning your love one into an object for your pleasure or enjoyment is wrong. Just like turning them into diamond. It's just wrong. Self righteous? I think not. Disgusted? No, just incredulous that someone is trying to make money off of death.
LBeniamin 9 years ago
They passed. Let them go. Live your life. Not forget them, but don't hold on them.
Anna Hajdu 9 years ago
Begs the question, Should one? And it's dinner plates and cups. Ewwwwwwww.....I applaud your efforts, but that is f****d.
Hisseefit 9 years ago
I wonder if the owners of the bones would want to be made into dishes. Medical research, sure. But made into dishes for profit?
Marios Louvaris 8 years ago
Imagine your kids turning you into a dish when you die and eat pancakes of off you
Load More Replies... 
Nomadus Aureus 9 years ago
Ok. Since everyone seems to be freaking out. In Western culture this is a "no no". In other cultures however this wouldn't be seen as something evil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapala - a cup made from a human skull used as a ritual implement used in Hindu Tantra and Buddhist Tantra. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aghori - ascetic Shaiva sadhus, known to use bones from human corpses for crafting kapalas and jewelry. As jewelry, human bones have been used since ancient times: http://www.livescience.com/54783-painted-human-jawbones-used-as-ancient-jewelry.html etc., etc. What I'm saying is that while I personally wouldn't want to eat from these (Though the colour is nice and I like the shape of the ceramics), to act so disgusted and self-righteous... Really?
Pi... 9 years ago
True! After all, original gelatine is also crushed mammal bones. We're mammals too.
Load More Replies...
J. Philip vanHeijkoop 9 years ago
'No no, for our guest we won't be using the cheap dinnerware, tonight we'll be dining out of grandma!'
Aleks Vujovic 9 years ago
Making pottery with your loved one's ashes - great creative way to honor your dead. Sure. Using it to consume food? Reminds me of how the Scythians were known for fashioning drinkware from their enemies' skulls half a millennia BCE. Culturally, recessive as f**k.
Liana Swarz-Burt 9 years ago
Why are there even bone dealers out there who have in their possession bones from 200 different people?????
Pavel Nekoranec 9 years ago
- "Oh, this was your grandmother's tea set? So beautiful!" - "No, that IS my grandmother. More tea?"
Doug Stringham 9 years ago
I thought possessing human remains without a medical/research license was a felony.
Liz Miller 9 years ago
Depends on the country you're in. There's more to this world than the usa...
Load More Replies...
Hayley Lightcap 9 years ago
I was pretty freaked out by it at first but after actually reading about it it's not that bad. I mean I wouldn't get it done myself but hey.
Kirsten Lee 9 years ago
wish i could do that but i respect the dead but seriously this is kinda taking it a little to far and some people actually wanting this i would rather bury the dead then drink the dead
Becki Sargent 9 years ago
It's both creative and disturbing at the same time. Kudos to you for making a dream possible though!!
Idil Sönmez 9 years ago
I think this is wrong in so many levels. Turning them into dinnerware?! I wouldn't wanna eat off a loved one.. leave the dead alone ffs!
Pi... 9 years ago
Who knew our bones could glaze pottery so beautifully. The blue on it is so unique! Loved it!
Hisseefit 9 years ago
We've had bone China for centuries, but that was usually from cows.
Load More Replies...
Silent Skeleton 9 years ago
that's actually fascinating. I would love the cremation jewelry, more useful than a random urn
PandasAreMyFav 9 years ago
First off... who gives there bones to a bone dealer to then sell their bones? I find this a little disturbing. However I would be fine with this if people asked for this to be done with there ashes. But I don’t think 200 people would have all signed off on this. It would be kind of funny if someone at work drank from your mug, you look them in the eyes and tell them what they just drank from.... The expiration would be priceless... But this is just..... no... no.... no...
Kim Glidden 9 years ago
This is brilliant. Living in a death-phobic society we have so little interaction with the dying and rarely confront our own mortality. The death taboo (clearly demonstrated by some of the reactions to this articles) is harmful to the human spirit. What you've created is beautiful and freeing.
Tisha Rodriguez 9 years ago
This kinda reminds me of that one story in Junji Ito's Uzumaki manga, where the guy uses the ashes of the dead bodies in his pottery and then their horrified twisted faces appear on the surface of the fired ceramics...just saying. However, I've seen more macabre things, like that one post where you can preserve a loved one's tattooed skin? Yeah, this is pretty tame compared to that. Art is art, no matter how strange and weird it gets.
RavenPuffPanda 6 years ago
dishes, yeah no. But maybe a necklace? ( Like the one on the necklace. ) So then you can carry them wherever you go? IDK.
Marvel Monster 7 years ago
What the hell???!??!?!? This is messed up. To EAT with the REMAINS of your LOVED ONES?
Konstantinos Theodoridis 7 years ago
can't imagine the moment a guest breaks accidentally one of these cups / dishes and everybody staring at him silently.... it's a weird concept and not one to my taste... If it was a vase or a pot or something unique I may agreed but everyday dishes and cups is not respectful and rather disgusting
Karolina Hofman 8 years ago
It's all fun and games until someone gets drunk and pees into grandma.
snazZydoddle 8 years ago
how do u even think of this lmao like "oh yes ill buy bones on the internet and craft mugs" ,,,, nothing against it, i think it's really cool,,,, but just how do u get the idea
Darth Vader 8 years ago
Ed Gein is the only person I would think would find this the slightest bit appropriate. This is downright horrific.
Glynis Lailann 8 years ago
Interesting idea, but rather on the macabre side. The thought of eating and drinking off a dead relatives ashes gives me the heebie jeebies!
Marie Garmon 8 years ago
This is so disrespectful 😲 both of my parents are dead and cremated..i would NEVER do this to them..someone who wiped my tears as a child and as an adult...that told be everything would be ok when life was f****d up. That scolded me when i did wrong...those people shouldn't be used for entertaining guests..cant imagine eating an amazing steak off of my dad of drinking coffee out of my mom..gtfo
Amanda Cariker 8 years ago
Honestly, I got a little sick reading that people were eating from these dishes. Not my cup of tea, however the vases are nice and I think I would like an Urn. Pottery is nice as well.
Frederick Bruce 9 years ago
Amayonnaising! Now I know what to do with all the bones I've got hidden. Genius
Issy Annatasia 9 years ago
Yeah this is gross..I was thinking for a second maybe not but now IM CERTAIN
lucille johnson 9 years ago
Kinda gross to think that your lips are touching a dead persons bones, and especially some one u knew
Mariha Mitchelle 9 years ago
Who would want to put there lips on a human carcass. That is just discussing.
Don Southern 9 years ago
What kind of person sells human remains? Or even worse , how in the world you came on idea to buy human bones? Is that not illegal??
Susanna Vesna 9 years ago
I was waiting for an image of someone drinking wine out of a skull, but meh.. On another hand- these bone dealers...Where do they get their supply from exactly?! I do hope they dont just dig up people's graves..
Lev Pavlovski 9 years ago
At least he could have the decency to make them visually appealing. No AESTHETICS whatsoever.
Sofia Bellavista 9 years ago
Turning the ashes into a piece of art - beautiful. Eating out of it - f**k no. This is morbid
Karima Fraimbault 9 years ago
What if you break your dinning plate, will you put your gran ma to trash. Insane
Roselientje 9 years ago
In someway I think its beautiful but in the other way I think its creepy.
Wolf silver 9 years ago
I wanna see the people's reactions when they are told they're drinking from their granny
Wolf silver 9 years ago
I wanna see people's reactions when they find out that their drinking out of someone
Master Markus 9 years ago
Pretty cool! It's not like the dead were using those bones anyway. If someone wants it done, why not?
Lucina Sandoval-Gordon 9 years ago
This would be cool if it was for displaying purposes but not to drink out of.
Susie Stock 9 years ago
It's morbid and brilliant. Better than paying a fortune for funeral costs!
Liliana V 9 years ago
Since everybody is freaking out, I think that it would not be a bad idea. While it is a new idea and could seen disgusting. It is a way to remember them, this a creative and thoughtful idea. Jewelry would be totally fine. People are so afraid of death, this is just a way to honor your dead loved ones. Maybe not with plates and cups but, vases and jewelry would be fine.
tara hasani 9 years ago
there's a " people freaking out over .. " missing from this article !!!!
iblowsheep 9 years ago
With my luck, my bones would end up being used to glaze a chamber pot. Thanks heap Asshat!
Tina Marie Mckibben 9 years ago
Where do i begin on such a morbid subject.only a sick, twisted, evil mind could even contemplate such a concept of using human bone or any human remains for anything other then legal authorized transplants.there are no words to properly explain how extremely disrespectful this is to the dead.human beings should be buried under the ground where there spirits can be at peace and thier families can come to see them knowing that even though they are no longer among the living they are complete and at rest not in someones cabinet as a damn plate or as anything else that is completely unnecessary.i live a few miles from where the electric chair was invented and if you did something like this here you would most likely be in prison for several crime's and you also wouldn't survive very long in prison either .did you get permission from these people before they passed away to use thier bodies for this purpose did the place you bought bines from online have permission from the people whos bones they used.i have no doubt that some where down the line something illegal is going on not to mention the fact that this is a abomination and a testament as to how sick people are in the 21st century.this is not controversial this is just straight up wrong.from the other comments i see there are good people in this world that do not want to type of sick.disrespectful.morbid thing to occur
Grace Robertson 9 years ago
To eat dinner off of my dead mother and father is not something I want to do. This is just so disturbing. It reminds me of what the Nazis did to victims of the death camps. They utilize everything from the skin to make book covers,lamp shades, and clothing, to the hair to make stuffing for furniture. Turning your love one into an object for your pleasure or enjoyment is wrong. Just like turning them into diamond. It's just wrong. Self righteous? I think not. Disgusted? No, just incredulous that someone is trying to make money off of death.
LBeniamin 9 years ago
They passed. Let them go. Live your life. Not forget them, but don't hold on them.
Anna Hajdu 9 years ago
Begs the question, Should one? And it's dinner plates and cups. Ewwwwwwww.....I applaud your efforts, but that is f****d.
Hisseefit 9 years ago
I wonder if the owners of the bones would want to be made into dishes. Medical research, sure. But made into dishes for profit?
Marios Louvaris 8 years ago
Imagine your kids turning you into a dish when you die and eat pancakes of off you
Load More Replies... Nomadus Aureus 9 years ago
Ok. Since everyone seems to be freaking out. In Western culture this is a "no no". In other cultures however this wouldn't be seen as something evil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapala - a cup made from a human skull used as a ritual implement used in Hindu Tantra and Buddhist Tantra. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aghori - ascetic Shaiva sadhus, known to use bones from human corpses for crafting kapalas and jewelry. As jewelry, human bones have been used since ancient times: http://www.livescience.com/54783-painted-human-jawbones-used-as-ancient-jewelry.html etc., etc. What I'm saying is that while I personally wouldn't want to eat from these (Though the colour is nice and I like the shape of the ceramics), to act so disgusted and self-righteous... Really?
Pi... 9 years ago
True! After all, original gelatine is also crushed mammal bones. We're mammals too.
Load More Replies... J. Philip vanHeijkoop 9 years ago
'No no, for our guest we won't be using the cheap dinnerware, tonight we'll be dining out of grandma!'
Aleks Vujovic 9 years ago
Making pottery with your loved one's ashes - great creative way to honor your dead. Sure. Using it to consume food? Reminds me of how the Scythians were known for fashioning drinkware from their enemies' skulls half a millennia BCE. Culturally, recessive as f**k.
Liana Swarz-Burt 9 years ago
Why are there even bone dealers out there who have in their possession bones from 200 different people?????
Pavel Nekoranec 9 years ago
- "Oh, this was your grandmother's tea set? So beautiful!" - "No, that IS my grandmother. More tea?"
Doug Stringham 9 years ago
I thought possessing human remains without a medical/research license was a felony.
Liz Miller 9 years ago
Depends on the country you're in. There's more to this world than the usa...
Load More Replies... Hayley Lightcap 9 years ago
I was pretty freaked out by it at first but after actually reading about it it's not that bad. I mean I wouldn't get it done myself but hey.
Kirsten Lee 9 years ago
wish i could do that but i respect the dead but seriously this is kinda taking it a little to far and some people actually wanting this i would rather bury the dead then drink the dead
Becki Sargent 9 years ago
It's both creative and disturbing at the same time. Kudos to you for making a dream possible though!!
Idil Sönmez 9 years ago
I think this is wrong in so many levels. Turning them into dinnerware?! I wouldn't wanna eat off a loved one.. leave the dead alone ffs!
Pi... 9 years ago
Who knew our bones could glaze pottery so beautifully. The blue on it is so unique! Loved it!
Hisseefit 9 years ago
We've had bone China for centuries, but that was usually from cows.
Load More Replies... Silent Skeleton 9 years ago
that's actually fascinating. I would love the cremation jewelry, more useful than a random urn
PandasAreMyFav 9 years ago
First off... who gives there bones to a bone dealer to then sell their bones? I find this a little disturbing. However I would be fine with this if people asked for this to be done with there ashes. But I don’t think 200 people would have all signed off on this. It would be kind of funny if someone at work drank from your mug, you look them in the eyes and tell them what they just drank from.... The expiration would be priceless... But this is just..... no... no.... no...
Kim Glidden 9 years ago
This is brilliant. Living in a death-phobic society we have so little interaction with the dying and rarely confront our own mortality. The death taboo (clearly demonstrated by some of the reactions to this articles) is harmful to the human spirit. What you've created is beautiful and freeing.
Tisha Rodriguez 9 years ago
This kinda reminds me of that one story in Junji Ito's Uzumaki manga, where the guy uses the ashes of the dead bodies in his pottery and then their horrified twisted faces appear on the surface of the fired ceramics...just saying. However, I've seen more macabre things, like that one post where you can preserve a loved one's tattooed skin? Yeah, this is pretty tame compared to that. Art is art, no matter how strange and weird it gets.
RavenPuffPanda 6 years ago
dishes, yeah no. But maybe a necklace? ( Like the one on the necklace. ) So then you can carry them wherever you go? IDK.
Marvel Monster 7 years ago
What the hell???!??!?!? This is messed up. To EAT with the REMAINS of your LOVED ONES?
Konstantinos Theodoridis 7 years ago
can't imagine the moment a guest breaks accidentally one of these cups / dishes and everybody staring at him silently.... it's a weird concept and not one to my taste... If it was a vase or a pot or something unique I may agreed but everyday dishes and cups is not respectful and rather disgusting
Karolina Hofman 8 years ago
It's all fun and games until someone gets drunk and pees into grandma.
snazZydoddle 8 years ago
how do u even think of this lmao like "oh yes ill buy bones on the internet and craft mugs" ,,,, nothing against it, i think it's really cool,,,, but just how do u get the idea
Darth Vader 8 years ago
Ed Gein is the only person I would think would find this the slightest bit appropriate. This is downright horrific.
Glynis Lailann 8 years ago
Interesting idea, but rather on the macabre side. The thought of eating and drinking off a dead relatives ashes gives me the heebie jeebies!
Marie Garmon 8 years ago
This is so disrespectful 😲 both of my parents are dead and cremated..i would NEVER do this to them..someone who wiped my tears as a child and as an adult...that told be everything would be ok when life was f****d up. That scolded me when i did wrong...those people shouldn't be used for entertaining guests..cant imagine eating an amazing steak off of my dad of drinking coffee out of my mom..gtfo
Amanda Cariker 8 years ago
Honestly, I got a little sick reading that people were eating from these dishes. Not my cup of tea, however the vases are nice and I think I would like an Urn. Pottery is nice as well.
Frederick Bruce 9 years ago
Amayonnaising! Now I know what to do with all the bones I've got hidden. Genius
Issy Annatasia 9 years ago
Yeah this is gross..I was thinking for a second maybe not but now IM CERTAIN
lucille johnson 9 years ago
Kinda gross to think that your lips are touching a dead persons bones, and especially some one u knew
Mariha Mitchelle 9 years ago
Who would want to put there lips on a human carcass. That is just discussing.
Don Southern 9 years ago
What kind of person sells human remains? Or even worse , how in the world you came on idea to buy human bones? Is that not illegal??
Susanna Vesna 9 years ago
I was waiting for an image of someone drinking wine out of a skull, but meh.. On another hand- these bone dealers...Where do they get their supply from exactly?! I do hope they dont just dig up people's graves..
Lev Pavlovski 9 years ago
At least he could have the decency to make them visually appealing. No AESTHETICS whatsoever.
Sofia Bellavista 9 years ago
Turning the ashes into a piece of art - beautiful. Eating out of it - f**k no. This is morbid
Karima Fraimbault 9 years ago
What if you break your dinning plate, will you put your gran ma to trash. Insane
Roselientje 9 years ago
In someway I think its beautiful but in the other way I think its creepy.
Wolf silver 9 years ago
I wanna see the people's reactions when they are told they're drinking from their granny
Wolf silver 9 years ago
I wanna see people's reactions when they find out that their drinking out of someone
Master Markus 9 years ago
Pretty cool! It's not like the dead were using those bones anyway. If someone wants it done, why not?
Lucina Sandoval-Gordon 9 years ago
This would be cool if it was for displaying purposes but not to drink out of.
Susie Stock 9 years ago
It's morbid and brilliant. Better than paying a fortune for funeral costs!
Liliana V 9 years ago
Since everybody is freaking out, I think that it would not be a bad idea. While it is a new idea and could seen disgusting. It is a way to remember them, this a creative and thoughtful idea. Jewelry would be totally fine. People are so afraid of death, this is just a way to honor your dead loved ones. Maybe not with plates and cups but, vases and jewelry would be fine.
tara hasani 9 years ago
there's a " people freaking out over .. " missing from this article !!!!
iblowsheep 9 years ago
With my luck, my bones would end up being used to glaze a chamber pot. Thanks heap Asshat!
Tina Marie Mckibben 9 years ago
Where do i begin on such a morbid subject.only a sick, twisted, evil mind could even contemplate such a concept of using human bone or any human remains for anything other then legal authorized transplants.there are no words to properly explain how extremely disrespectful this is to the dead.human beings should be buried under the ground where there spirits can be at peace and thier families can come to see them knowing that even though they are no longer among the living they are complete and at rest not in someones cabinet as a damn plate or as anything else that is completely unnecessary.i live a few miles from where the electric chair was invented and if you did something like this here you would most likely be in prison for several crime's and you also wouldn't survive very long in prison either .did you get permission from these people before they passed away to use thier bodies for this purpose did the place you bought bines from online have permission from the people whos bones they used.i have no doubt that some where down the line something illegal is going on not to mention the fact that this is a abomination and a testament as to how sick people are in the 21st century.this is not controversial this is just straight up wrong.from the other comments i see there are good people in this world that do not want to type of sick.disrespectful.morbid thing to occur
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