Fine Dying: Designing Death Culture
ENABLE FOUNDATION “death objects” designed with citizens for green burials and better grieving.
Unlike medical or social service experts who ensure a good death or better end of life, ENABLE FOUNDATION (EF) advocate a disruptive approach to the taboo subject of death, called ‘Fine Dying’. Working with Hong Kong citizens, we discovered they wanted better ways to cope with bereavement. Together we researched and designed a series of objects to address deeper emotional and mental health needs at this difficult time. Our designs offer new ways to grieve and preserve memories of loved ones. The Light (2015) by EF with London designer Pascal Anson holds a loved one’s precious death gemstone in an enclosed tube where it can be illuminated by pressing a switch. The Envelope 信別 (2018) by EF with Hong Kong design studio, Milk Design, is a patented, one-off, paper ‘ash scatterer’. It enables citizens to have a better ritual of garden burial (scattering ashes in the city’s gardens of remembrance). Launched in Jan 2018, it has been in production since Jan 2019 for Hong Kong citizens to use.