Now you can make a diamond of your earthly remains

Diamonds.Photo: Jølstad begravelsesbyrå

Relatives are paying between 20 to 80,000 kroner to make diamonds from the ash after a loved one’s cremation. The process takes 10-12 months.

‘Some may think this is strange, while others want an eternal memory of their loved one,’ said Jan Willy Løken of Jølstad Funeral Bureau, without fully explaining how eternity entered the picture.

‘These diamonds have exactly the same physical characteristics as do naturally created diamonds. In nature, the process takes millions of years, yet at LifeGem, it takes 10 to 12 months,’ wrote the funeral agency on its website, ‘The Final Journey’.

100 orders in three years

‘Some people think this is an upper-class phenomenon, but it isn’t. People from all social classes make orders’, said general manager, Pia Cyrén.

‘Some want to make diamonds of their stillborn child, others of their spouses, and some of their parents.’

Since Cyrén began offering the service three years ago, there have been 100 orders for diamonds made from the ashes of deceased relatives.

She spoke of an elderly woman who told her relatives that she wished to be one or more diamonds. A few months later, she died. It ended up with five diamonds going to her bereaved family.

Ash from pets

The company also offers diamonds made from the ashes of pets.

‘Now you can make a real diamond from the cremation ashes of your four-legged friend,’ says the company’s website information.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today