John, who usually works in fashion and interiors, had to adopt a new headspace to tackle this brief. Farewill tasked him to create a collection of contemporary urns exploring how to “honour someone’s life and encourage more positivity when approaching the conversation what we want when we die,” explains the ceramicist. Urns have come to represent someone’s final resting place, but rarely do they convey a person’s life, something that John and Farewill aim to challenge through the project.
London-based artist and ceramicist John Booth has teamed up with UK death specialists Farewill to create a limited edition set of bespoke urns in a project titled A Colourful Life. Known for his vibrant and bold colour palette, John has previously collaborated with the likes of Fendi and Paul Smith. Now, in the series of urns celebrating life, he is encouraging a more positive dialogue around the way we want to die. “After a year in a pandemic,” reads a press statement, “many of us still don’t feel comfortable confronting or planning for death but Farewill is working to change that, with the help of John’s joyful urns.”
Commenting on the unique project, John continues, “It’s not every day that a project gives you the opportunity to create something both meaningful and monumental.” By working on the designs, he also contemplated why the urn as an artistic object hasn’t been considered more in the past. A Colourful Life provided John with a fruitful opportunity to kickstart some new ideas in a demotivating year marked by the pandemic. Though he has been able to work in his studio throughout the pandemic, it has still been tricky at times, and the Farewill collaboration offered a thought-provoking and poignant way to channel his creativity.