ABOUT IDENTITY URNS

 HAVE YOU GOT A LOVED ONE HIDDEN AWAY IN YOUR CLOSET?

Identity Urns has been 10 years in the making though we only realised that in hindsight.

When my dad passed away in December 2008 we had the usual funeral and then perhaps slightly more unusually we shared his ashes 3 ways. One third stayed in our hometown in the North East of England with our mam. One third went back to the Scottish Highlands with my sister and the other third winged its’ way to Australia with my brother and myself. My dad had split his time across those 3 spaces for many years and it seemed only fitting that we each take him home.

Mam had a bench placed on the beach front in his honour and spread his ashes in the North Sea where we grew up. My sister planned to scatter her third in the ocean near Inverness and the plan for our third was the ocean on the East Coast of Australia.

And so … 10 years later … his ashes remained in a velvet bag in my wardrobe as I struggled to find the right time and place to let him go. 

My husband is a surfboard maker – hollow core wooden boards – beautiful works of art. When our beloved Spoodle, Buster, died he placed his ashes inside a wooden board that he would later surf, ensuring Buster joined him on each wave. And so R.I.P Boards were created as a memorial for surfers and a way of remembering a loved one who surfed. Anyone who knows a surfer would understand that passion for the surf and inexplicable connection to the ocean.

It got me thinking about my dad – shame he wasn’t a surfer – we could do the same with his ashes. What would epitomise his passions and be a space to hold his ashes? The traditional and rather generic urns did not seem personal enough. He was a fanatical bowler and loved his lawn bowls in later life. My husband set about creating an Identity Urn to represent my dad. A set of three bowls balls – one for each sibling – holding his ashes  and a special poem. Now when I see that bowls ball I smile and remember my dad warmly. No longer guiltily hidden away in the wardrobe but subtly on display in a way that would make him smile too.

The more people I spoke to the more I realised I had not been alone in hanging on to his ashes lacking a fitting resting place. For that reason we created Identity Urns and are committed to helping you find the perfect resting place and memorial for your Loved One too."

                                 Warm Regards, Ali Facer