Ten architects and designers have created a striking collection of funeral urns for Alessi's The Last Pot exhibition at Milan Design Week. The project, curated by Alberto Alessi, explores the funeral urn as a final container — an object surprisingly overlooked by the design world despite its significance.
The show includes contributions from David Chipperfield, Daniel Libeskind, Audrey Large and Philippe Starck. Vienna-based EOOS Design contributed Totem, designing metal urns in two sizes, smaller for pets and larger for humans, which can be stacked to create "a totem that represents families, clans, or tribes." Hangzhou's Mario Tsai Studio created something resembling a heavy book, for storing on a shelf or keeping out on a coffee table. One segment of Tsai's urn holds ashes; the other, revealed when the 'book' is opened, has room for photos or letters.
The Last Pot reflects broader societal shifts toward death positivity — a movement seeking to normalize discussions around mortality and reclaim death as a personal, cultural and aesthetic experience. It aligns with other innovations in the death care industry, from human composting to dissolving urns and mycelium coffins, as designers increasingly apply their skills to personalize and bring meaning to the end of life. As people seek alternatives to traditional funeral practices, opportunities arise to transform objects of mourning into vessels of memory and identity.
