Kunokaiku urns are created as everyday domestic objects

(Image credit: Marianna Jamadi)

Channelling something as difficult as losing a loved one into a healing, creative endeavour takes tremendous grace. After the passing of her parents, California-based Marianna Jamadi took her grief and formed Kunokaiku. Unable to find a suitable vessel in which to rest her parents' ashes, Jamadi collaborated with ceramic studio Menat in Mexico City to design an urn worthy of them. 'It became a way to cope for me,' Jamadi says. 'It gave me a space that I could put the energy into and has become an interesting journey of sharing grief and seeing how other people process it too.'

Kunokaiku urns: a design with intention

Kunokaiku urns by Marianna Jamadi used as domestic objects

Through her travels as a photographer, Jamadi was always struck by different customs and traditions of bereavement. 'When I lost my parents, I was reaching for something that felt like these particular experiences of visiting Varanasi in India or observing cremation ceremonies in Bali.' She is a child of two cultures herself, and the name Kunokaiku pays homage to her parents by combining the Indonesian and Finnish words for ‘ancient’ and ‘echo’. Offered in three sizes (small, medium, and large), the urns are made in small batches by hand, taking upwards of two to three months to carefully complete. Future limited-edition collections will also be designed in collaboration with artists such as Raina Lee.

Placed alongside the objects we fill our lives with, Kunokaiku urns are meant to elicit a ritual practice of keeping close to those who've gone. We place importance on good design in our everyday; the memory of life is just as deserving, if not more so, of something beautiful. 'Grief and your relationship to the person that you lose actually changes over time, even when they're gone,' Jamadi explains. 'So it's nice to have an object that you can interact with. That you can stay tethered to.'

Kunokaiku urn by Marianna Jamadi used as candleholder

Tactile, tangible, and substantial, the stoneware urns can be experienced in many ways, as a vase, a candle base, a sculptural object, or a memento box. Loss is a complex subject for most. However, dealing with it should be as painless and restorative as possible. 'A traditional urn doesn't really allow people to have it open in their house,' Jamadi says. 'Maybe they're afraid of making other people uncomfortable. Whatever the reason, I think there can be a different relationship in terms of what you do with the ashes. So imagine if you have an object you love and have it out in your home, someone you lost, you can visit them every day. You can change out the flowers or light a candle. I just feel that with a little more intention in design for a product like this, it makes a huge shift.'

From $145

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Kunokaiku urns by Marianna Jamadi detail shot