The Meaning Behind Tree Urn: Rethinking Death, Healing Grief, and Planting Life

Initial Inspirations

• The beauty of the idea itself — for the profound message it carries about death, and therefore about life.
• The technical challenge — being able to create something that truly works, using cork, a material with extraordinary natural properties: organic, renewable, and biodegradable.
• The desire to design an object that is both aesthetically beautiful and warm — something that communicates a comforting, almost transcendent feeling when held in one’s hands.

Those were the first challenges.

A New Approach to Death

Later came a deeper motivation: the incredible opportunity to offer modern Western society a different approach to death.
To share a vision reminiscent of that of ancient Egypt — explaining that life is a cycle in which death is an inseparable part.

Becoming aware of this, accepting it, and integrating it brings great wisdom — a way to put life into perspective, to find peace, or at least to soften the fear that death stirs within us, so we may live fully.

A Personal Reflection

This echoed a reflection that has long lived within me.
About twenty years ago, I was still young and always in a rush — everything had to go fast, fast, fast… to reach my goals.
One day, I came across a book — one of those that, like all the meaningful books in my life, seemed to find me at the right time. Its title — The Man in a Hurry — caught my attention, and I read the summary:

“Pierre Niox is an antique dealer who is always in a rush, constantly chasing after rare finds — always running, but running after what?”

That question struck me deeply and opened a long inner reflection.
Over time, the answer became clear: the road, whatever its direction, does not lead to Rome… but to death.

From that moment on, no longer in a hurry to arrive there, I understood that I had to take all the time I needed —
to be able to live, to truly appreciate each instant that life offers, every person I meet, and to find happiness in all things.
It was a long road…

The Message of Comfort

Along this journey, during the funerals of friends’ parents, seeing their immense pain, a message of comfort often came to my mind:

“I understand and share your deep sorrow.
But imagine your father’s soul rising to the sky, watching you in tears and in such sadness.
Do you think he would be happy to see you this way? It would break his heart.
Say goodbye with love, wish him a beautiful journey, send him your affection, and promise to live your life with joy.
Free him — and give him this last gift: the gift of your smile.”

The Gift of Tree Urn

All these experiences of life gave me the incredible motivation to develop “Tree Urn project“.

Then, we realized something we had not thought of at all.
Beyond the release from fear, beyond the symbol of life, and even beyond the tribute itself, Tree Urn revealed a new and unexpected capacity — that of being a true support in grief for those who remain.

It was such a rewarding discovery. What a joy it is to be able to offer others such a gift.

A support first through the warmth and comforting nature of cork — so far from the coldness that usually surrounds urns.
But above all, through the very act of planting the tree inside the urn: an unsuspected form of therapy that brings complete release.
Planting the tree within the urn allows the mind to create a connection with the departed — to send them thoughts, and to say goodbye by planting life.
Whether conscious or unconscious, this act offers an incredibly deep and liberating form of support, capable of soothing — and even preventing — much suffering.

The Act of Letting Go

Then comes the act of burying the urn with the tree — the true act of letting go.
Accepting the departure of the other, and releasing their soul.
A deeply important gesture: to free the soul.

Everything followed naturally, and today we offer the world the opportunity to embrace Tree Urn.

📚 Suggested Readings

• The ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead — Grégoire Kolpaktchy (true translation ≈ Emergence into the Light of Day)
  1. Life (Thesis)
  2. Death (Antithesis)
  3. The Absolute Being — Eternity (Synthesis)
• François Cheng: Five Meditations on Death