It's a bookcase...no, wait...it's a coffin

[Scooter]

Eco-Responsible Furniture: This Bookshelf Can Be Reassembled Into A Coffin After The Owner’s Death

When we have a quiet moment to ourselves, we sometimes think about the world we’ll leave behind after we’re gone. Will the world be a better or worse place when you’re no longer in it? That’s one of the questions that drives people to consider the impact they have on the environment.

Designer William Warren created a set of bookshelves that will last you a lifetime: they can be reassembled as a coffin. In other words, the ‘Shelves for Life’ is a piece of furniture that will follow you on your final journey.

“The wood will color, the surfaces will mark and stain, and over the years and the furniture will become a part of you,” Warren writes. “When you die, the shelves can be taken apart and reassembled as a coffin. The brass plate under the bottom shelf, that tells the story about this transformation, is then flipped over and your dates inscribed on it.”







According to Warren, people, in general, were at first surprised and then amused by his design. “It’s not everyone who sees the charm but some do. People are very pleased when they realize the designs can be downloaded for free.”

The designer admitted that there have been critics who did not enjoy his work: “I offered the design to a Japanese company when I first made it but they really didn’t like the reminder of death. Since then, some squeal and some smile.”

Warren revealed to Bored Panda that he’s still busy working away as a designer. Among his recent projects, he designed all the furniture and interiors in a new children’s hospital in Edinburgh and new gates for Kew Gardens in London. “I’m also teaching design at several universities and developing other music and video projects.”

The designer added that “we are all going to die” at some point and there’s no need to ignore it or try to forget it. “If you don’t think about it in advance, you’ll be buried or burnt in a chipboard box with paper that looks like wood and plastic handles that look like brass. Your grieving family will pay £400 for this £40 piece of rubbish because nobody argues with an undertaker. Better to have something you’ve made, something solid and something that has lived with you in life and has the stains and scars to prove it.”

[Joe Guy]

My first impression is that the designer is a shelfish person.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Not at all - he's humanitarian concerned about the novel Coronavirus

[Bicycle Bill]

Ain't much of a bookcase... no back walls to keep the books from falling out.  It's more of a knick-knack shelf than anything.

-"BB"-

[MajGenl.Meade]

Brings a new meaning to "bookends"

From plot to plot?

[Joe Guy]

If his design was flawed, that would be a grave error.

[ex-khobar Andy]

From tomes to tombs.

[MajGenl.Meade]

At least it's cemeteryical

[RayThom]

This is being sold at "IKILA"

[ex-khobar Andy]

I think you need more than two books to call it a bookcase.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Good job there's three in the photo then. . .

I think they are using the Dewey Deathimal System, no?

[Joe Guy]

I think they are using the Dewey Deathimal System, no?

Bury funny....

[BoSoxGal]

I wish I had the tools to make one! Easy fix to add a spar across the back to keep books in, although many bookshelves are backless as intended to be put against walls or have books on both sides (e.g., most library bookshelves in the world.)

I might look for a carpentry student at the local voc-tech to make me this with some of my stimulus funds!

[MajGenl.Meade]

Handy for those who like to buy box sets