Bamboo coffins in Cornwall being produced by former lecturer

In his second year of study on Falmouth University's sustainable product design course, Owain Harris came up with the idea of making sustainable coffins out of bamboo.

He now crafts the coffins with his wife Shelley out of their workshop in Perranwell Station and sells them on his website cornishbamboocoffins.co.uk.

Owain said: "I was older than everyone including the staff but as they say – you are never too old to learn!

"It was in the second year of the course that the opportunity arose to develop and design a product, and following a seemingly innocent conversation with my mother about funeral planning, the impetus to design the sustainable coffin came to light and was very much encouraged by my family."

Owain went on to say: "This seemingly simple brief then took me on a two-year journey in which I learned that the world of coffins, cremations and funerals is far more complicated than I ever imagined."

Owain and his wife Shelley now harvest the bamboo from several sites around Cornwall including Carwinion House near Mawnan Smith and the old bamboo farm at Lanivet.

The process is entirely hand crafted and takes approximately four days to make each coffin.

All the materials used in the coffins have been chosen for their sustainability: the cloth in the lid and lining are organic and the twine which helps bind everything together is made from plant fibres.

The design allows for customisable lids ranging from classic shades through to brighter and more vibrant colours such as yellows, pinks and blues.

Owain said: "Because there is a wide variety of bamboos growing in Cornwall it was important that I designed a process which we could use to produce a coffin from whatever species are available.

"After extensive research and experimentation, I developed a process which allows us to split, flatten and clean any bamboo culm (the correct name for bamboo canes) of the right length into strips ready for weaving into a coffin basket."