Posted on 03/03/2007 5:04:20 PM PST by melt
MEXICO CITY — In the country that's home to the cult of the Day of the Dead and Saint Death, communing with the dearly departed is nothing new.
But what about wearing them on a necklace or a ring?
Thanks to a pair of Swiss inventors, Mexicans can do just that by transforming their loved ones' ashes into diamonds.
Sound morbid? Gloria Alvarado doesn't think so. Four years after her husband died of a heart attack, the Mexico City health-store owner will now be able to carry him with her wherever she goes.
"I know it's not actually him," Alvarado, 67, said of the half-carat blue diamond she is having made from her husband's remains. "But it will be a reminder of the wonderful man that he was."
Alvarado is one of several dozen Mexican customers of Algordanza, a Swiss company founded by scientists Veit Brimer and Rinaldo Willy in 2004.
It has since expanded into 19 countries in Europe and Asia and entered the Mexican market in November 2005.
It plans to open an office in Houston later this year.
Company officials say they've created about 1,000 "memorial diamonds," most of them commissioned by widows. Algordanza means "remembrance" in Romansh, one of Switzerland's official dialects.
These memories don't come cheaply. Prices range from $5,200 for a .3-carat diamond to $18,000 for a full carat.
That's comparable to the cost of a high-quality natural diamond, said Mark Helper, a geologist who teaches a class on gems at the University of Texas at Austin.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
I read about a guy who wanted his ashes put into plastic to make frisbees. All so his guests could take him home...weird.
Just keep her well fed.
Now there was a guy who could definitely put the 'fun' in funeral.
Leave me be, 98-year-old woman tells young admirer
Reuters News Service/ Yahoo News | 3/1/07 | Reuters
Posted on 03/02/2007 11:00:53 AM EST by Jaded
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