Pete Saari, a veteran technology marketing executive, got an idea three years ago from an article about the fast-growing cremation industry.
Saari was less than impressed with standard urns sold through the funeral industry. They range from the veritable box to different vases and containers and materials available for up to several hundred dollars.
He thought there might be a market for higher-cost, individualized urns that said something about the deceased. And he knew how they could be made.
So in 2014, Saari, then working in the 3-D printing industry, and a partner started Foreverence, a small design-and-manufacturing business that has started to get traction with its customized urns that sell for an average $2,500.
The designs range from a replica of a red 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle convertible, complete with a box of 8-track tapes in the back seat, to a 22-inch tall Space Shuttle Columbia urn that holds the ashes of a former NASA engineer.
"We have a great deal of respect for funeral-service professionals, but they don't exactly embrace change and new ideas," said Saari, who's going with a direct-to-consumer model. He's trying to hit people with targeted marketing who are working on end-of-life planning and to affinity groups such as car clubs, travel clubs and boating organizations, as well as the Foreverence website.
Saari and his partner founded the firm on the belief that there was a market for a higher-end, customized urn that memorialized the deceased in an industry dominated by standardized products that typically sell for a few hundred bucks or less.
"We didn't think traditional urns offered that expression of an individual's legacy that some families want," Saari said. "We couldn't see that anybody was making customized urns."