You don't find many designers working in the funeral business thinking about more creative ways for you to leave this world (and maybe they should be). However, the product designer Gerard Moline  has combined the romantic notion of life after death with an eco solution to the dirty business of the actual, you know, transition.

His Bios Urn is a biodegradable urn made from coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose and inside it contains the seed of a tree. Once your remains have been placed into the urn, it can be planted and then the seed germinates and begins to grow. You even have the choice to pick the type of plant you would like to become, depending on what kind of planting space you prefer. 

I, personally, would much rather leave behind a tree than a tombstone. 

 

Editor's Note: The Bios Urn is a patented design of Estudimoline, the design company of Gerard Moline, a Catalan artist and product designer who designed Bio Urn for animals in 1999. http://patentados.com/invento/urna-biodegradable.html

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Daniel Honan

Managing Editor, Big Think