‘Thanatophobia -The extreme and often irrational thought or fear of death leads to the phobia known as Thanatophobia. Very severe cases of thanatophobia often negatively impact the day to day functioning of the individual suffering from this condition. Often s/he refuses to leave the home owing to this fear. The talk or thought of death (or what lies after death) can trigger panic attacks in the patients.’ (L.Fristcher,2018)

The winner of the ‘death by design’ project, ‘Emergence’. An alternative way to think about death. The issue being how well caskets decompose, that cemeteries don’t need to look so morbid and to start the discussion about death.   

I was drawn to this design as to me death is a scary thought. I live next to a cemetery and I like the idea that in the future instead of looking out my bedroom window and seeing gravestones I would see a forest instead. I find it interesting that it is possible to live on after death.

It takes hundreds of years for a coffin to rot and decompose, depending on the external factors like temperature, soil acidity etc. When thinking about the future, and the scarcity of the land our population and pollution every growing.  Thinking about priority of land for the future. Trees are given the title of the ‘lungs of the earth’ therefore I feel this design would successfully impact the world.

The casket is made from 100% biodegradable materials a bioplastic which is compostable transparent and easy to install. The material is made to promote growth of microorganisms to aid the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere. (J. Pallister, 2015)

Lisa Fristcher, 2018, fear of death, https://www.verywellmind.com/thanatophobia-2671879

James Pallister, 2015, Reinventing death for the twenty-first century ,Design council , https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/reinventing-death-twenty-first-century-0