As burial trends decline and cremation trends rise, how appropriate that Grateful Glass is based in the old Atlas casket factory in Philadelphia. Atlas went out of business about 15 years ago and the space has been re-purposed to house multiple artists producing interesting work.
Grateful Glass has a unique product that was considered for an NFDA Innovation Award. The “Un-Urn” is artist Matthew Olian’s contemporary take on a traditional urn. The glass is formed into an open webbed vessel, which cannot hold remains. It’s within the stopper at the top where a small portion of cremated remains are swirled into the glass.
Grateful Glass also makes orbs (I called them paperweights) and jewelry that incorporate cremated remains.
All of their creations are made with optically-pure Pyrex glass, the strongest commercially available glass. They are the only company working exclusively with Pyrex, making their memorial keepsakes especially durable for family heirlooms.
Matthew Olian shows off some of his work and talks about Grateful Glass in the video below. Learn more at www.GratefulGlass.com.
Recorded at the 2014 National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Convention and Expo in Nashville, Tennessee by Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®, host and author of the award-winning TV show and book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die.