Turning The Dead Into Diamonds: Meet The Ghoul Jewelers of Switzerland

Turning The Dead Into Diamonds: Meet The Ghoul Jewelers of Switzerland
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The average person lives 27,375 days. Every day is another withdrawal until one day, you run out. And once you reach zero, that’s it. Some of us go quicker than others. But in the end, the result is the same.

Depending upon how you spent those days, your loved ones may be left with a lot of questions after your demise. One will likely involve your remembrance. Will you have a full-service burial and gravestone? A cremation and an urn? These are the most common methods. But there’s another option. Become a diamond.

Yes, an actual diamond.

Insert Lonité, a Swiss memorial diamond company that turns human ashes into diamonds. Although they’re in the memorial business, their diamonds are genuine, certified by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), International Gemological Institute (IGI) and the Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF).

But beyond the mind-blowing science behind their process -which we’ll get to shortly- it’s the stories of their customers that moved me most. “Traditional funeral businesses serve you at your most mournful. When people turn to us, they’ve likely recovered from the sadness but still cannot stop thinking about their loved ones.” said a rep for Lonité.

Such is the story of one customer from Seattle, Washington.

“He sent us his wife’s ashes. He wanted us to create three diamonds for his family. One for him and the other two for his sons. For his diamond, he wanted it inscribed with their anniversary date so he could continue to celebrate their anniversaries for the rest of his life with his wife right on his ring” he said. “He loved his wife so much you could feel it.”

The process of turning ash to stone is both time consuming and expensive, but nonetheless fascinating. The element Carbon, which accounts for 18% of the human body, is also what a diamond is: crystallized carbon. Natural diamonds develop deep in the earth through a combination of high pressure and high temperature.

Through specialized equipment and technology, Lonité is able to recreate this natural environment, growing the human carbon itself into a diamond. From there it’s polished and, if a client requests, mounted into a piece of jewelry.

Although the idea of wearing a loved one may seem strange, it shouldn’t. For instance, most men purchase a ring for a loved one. Someone they want to be with forever. The diamond is used as a symbol of that commitment. So what better way to demonstrate that love than to carry them with you for the rest of your life after they pass in the same form?

Let’s just hope none of us need one anytime soon.

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