The Portrait Urn

A familiar face Portret urn by Nadia Gonegaï

At first sight, the Portrait urn is an everyday urn with a strong relief. But when you look a little closer, literally into the shadow of the vase, you can discern the silhouette of a face. The familiar face of the dearly departed. The Portrait urn is round, and displays from top to bottom a person’s facial profile, from crown, via nose, to neck.

The Portrait urn is an innovative design by artist Nadia Gonegaï from ‘s-Hertogenbosch. In the past few years, Nadia has applied herself to personalized grave monuments and urns. She discovered that the choice of urns is still impersonal and not very diverse. “Every human being, each life is unique. And at the end, there should be a personalized and fitting urn,” says Gonegaï. “Nothing is as personal as a face. A single glance at someone’s profile is often enough to recognize a person beyond any doubt. I wanted to do something with that.”

As a general rule, Gonegaï wants to create something personal every time, but she is also searching for something that can be realized in higher volumes. “I don’t want to lose the quality and craft in the process, ” she says. “My designs have to be durable, for life.”

An urn can be a cold object that is hidden on top of a cabinet. The Portrait urn is not scary. It’s a familiar face that deserves a warm spot in the home of his or her loved ones. The urn comes to life as soon as it is hit by sunlight or candlelight. “The shadow of the urn reveals the lines of the face. This way the loved one always remains in the company of his or her survivors.”

 

Via Design Boom

As far as I know, the Portrait Urn isn’t in production in the United States.