This month, glass artist Greg Lundgren is making a most unusual trip: He's heading to the National Funeral Directors Association convention in Nashville, Tennessee, to introduce Lundgren Monuments (4365 Sixth Ave NW; 206.240.6365 or 800.205.9055; lundgrenmonuments.com), his line of cast-glass headstones.
At 4 inches thick, the headstones - in clear, green and other hues - are available in 15 designs, from modern rounds and towers to traditional gables tops and crosses. They take on luminescent glow and appear otherworldly among the usual headstone sea of gray and black granite. The cast-glass and kiln-fires memorials are set on bases of bronze in a variety of finishes, including a brushed and blackened patina.
Started in partnership with Seattle Stained Glass founder Jim Nelson, the Fremont based company makes unique headstones geared toward an exclusive, art-glass loving clientele (perfect for Seattle) - people who can afford a $10,000 to $15,000 headstone - and who "want to be remembered differently and in a special way," says Lundgren.
"We live in a country where you can buy 60 different kinds of cereal," adds Lundgren, also the brains behind the conceptual nomadic arts organization Vital 5 Productions and the principal designer at Seattle Stained Glass, "but when you die, your only choice for a marker is granite - which is such a limited range to identify an incredibly diverse population." Guess that explains the company's slogan: "Individuality is not carved in stone."