GO TO SOURCE


CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, August 23, 2002: A Chicago-based company has created a process for turning cremated bodies into diamonds. LifeGem is taking orders to make jewellery from the carbon remains of people or pets for US4,500. Dean Vanden Biesen, who helped set up the company, says the idea came from his brother who is also working on the enterprise. Ananova.com quoted Vanden Biesen as saying: “The traditional methods of burial or having ashes in an urn just didn’t sit right with him. But he realized that man is made of carbon and diamonds are made of carbon so he just put the two ideas together.” Technicians collect the carbon created when a body is cremated and have it turned into graphite. The graphite is then sent to a lab in Germany that creates the stones by simulating the intense pressure and temperature needed to make diamonds. Several funeral homes have already signed up for the service. Doug Ahlgrim, director of Ahlgrim & Sons Funeral Services in Illinois, said: “An urn is beautiful in its own right, but you certainly can’t take it wherever you go.”

Post Views: 207