Tree-mendous idea: Flower farmer weaves caskets from willow

In North Carolina, flower farm owner Sarah Lasswell is the latest entrant into the green burial market with biodegradable caskets made by weaving willow.  

Lasswell tells Fast Company that willow is a good and sustainable material to work with because it is low maintenance. “You plant by cuttings, and the cuttings take four to five years to reach maturity,” she said. “You harvest it every single year while it’s dormant. And that’s it.” She has approximately 4,000 plants on a half-acre, with plans to expand to a full acre.

She also tells the publication she was inspired to make the caskets because green burial “offers so much for the person being buried, for the family saying goodbye, for the community surrounding the cemetery, for the very earth itself.”

Lasswell also invites the bereaved to weave with her as part of the mourning process. “That time between a death and a burial, you’ve got this few days where you often feel very helpless,” she said. “It’s very meditative. It’s quiet, it’s tactile, it’s beautiful.”