Return To Sender's green funerals

Beam me up: Return to Sender's Leanne and Greg Holdsworth provide new options for caskets. Photo / Ted Baghurst

An Auckland funeral casket maker has breathed new life and innovation into a traditionally morose industry.

Coffin manufacturing is not typically known for being the most dynamic of industries. So it's hard to imagine the concepts of innovation and vitality being synonymous with companies operating in this space. However, Return to Sender, a New Zealand owned and operated company producing ethically designed and environmentally sustainable caskets and urns for the funeral market, has successfully managed to introduce a contemporary feel into a conservative death care sector.

Focusing on contemporary design, emotional connection and environmentally sound principles, founders and husband and wife team Leanne and Greg Holdsworth saw a gap in the market that catered to people wanting their loved one's last departure to be in a vessel reflective of their life on earth.

The death of Leanne's father is what originally set in motion Return to Sender coming to life. Greg, who was still in design school, was surprised that when he put his hand on the casket's handle that it wasn't cold. In fact it wasn't even metal. It was a fake plastic lookalike. Further, when he looked closer at the body of the "wooden" casket there was no wood to be found. Instead it was MDF with plastic veneer finish.

Ironic given that Greg's father-in-law harboured an avid passion for wood. "Everything you see in a casket that looks like it's real almost always isn't. There was nothing authentic about the casket, and what my father stood for was authenticity," recounts Leanne.

So Greg decided to design a casket for his own father ahead of time that would match his personality and values. It was then in 2007 that the company's first suite of artisan caskets came to life. "We're really trying to provide modern options for families. For families that feel like they would really like that final resting place to be a reflection of who they were, what that stood for and what they loved".

The company's rimu archetype from its Classic range and wooden urns are the most popular sellers, closely followed by the Artisan, a curved shape design based on soft lines and design fluidity.

The company also provides the option of printing customisable images on the exterior (think Rangitoto or pohutakawas) using sustainable ink.

The most radical design and cost-effective option is, however, the Shroud Bearer: an open body wooden vessel using material and silk wrap instead of a closed lid.

Leanne says the company has fast become a disruptor in the industry. "The design of caskets hasn't changed for 100 years. So people are used to seeing shiny handles, shiny finishes. The funny thing is we've moved away from having that sort of furniture in our house and we don't have it in any other area of our lives. We don't have the same car design we had fifty years ago."

Although the company isn't one to blow its environmental trumpet, beauty and the environment go hand in hand. All products are manufactured from sustainable wood sources, with the option of using native timber.

Casket inner linings comprise New Zealand sheepskin lined with biodegradable cornstarch. Offcuts are even transformed into designer wooden Christmas trees sold into high-end gift stores. To top it off, for every casket sold a native tree is planted.

Leanne says there are product opportunities everywhere in terms of taking unnatural materials out of the production of caskets and urns and making the process as environmentally sustainable as possible.

But at its core Return to Sender aims to break tradition. Leanne explains how most people go into funeral arrangements without knowing what their options are. "We want everyone to be able to have their casket be a reflection of what they stood for in their lives. An honest one. One that doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't. Start doing some research now, then make sure you let your loved ones know what you want".

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