INFINITY BURIAL PROJECT, 2008 – PRESENT
The Infinity Burial Project is a transdisciplinary art and design project that examines modern funeral practices and offers alternative postmortem options that embrace natural decomposition and decay and the socio-cultural acceptance of death. Since its beginnings in 2008, the project has taken multiple forms including contemporary art, funeral planning and fungi workshops, documentary film, fashion/design, scientific research, and a corporation backed by venture capital that makes burial products for pets and people.
Infinity Burial Suit aka The Mushroom Death Suit
The first Infinity Burial Suit prototype was a body suit embroidered with thread infused with mushroom spores hand-sewn by Jae Rhim Lee. The embroidery pattern on the suit resembled the dendritic growth of mushroom mycelium.
The Suit has undergone several redesigns and now includes fungi and bacteria that facilitate decomposition, recondition soil, and help plants grow better. The current version of the suit was updated by fashion designer Daniel Silverstein. This version was featured in a performance and exhibit presented at the ACE Hotel NY for New York Fashion Week in 2016,
Dennis White, First Adopter
Coeio’s first adopter, Dennis White of Woburn, Massachusetts, was buried in the fall of 2016 in a green cemetery in Maine. Prior to his death, the Coeio team worked with Dennis and his family to plan his green funeral, a journey that was partially documented in the film “Suiting Dennis,” produced by award-winning director Grace Lee (American Revolutionary, Janeane from Des Moines, the Grace Lee Project) and cinematographer Nadia Hallgren (Motherland, Trouble the Water, Trapped.)
Suiting Dennis: A family story of green funeral; on Vimeo.
Coeio, Inc.
The response from Jae Rhim Lee’s mainstage TED Talk in 2011 wearing the Infinity Burial Suit prompted the birth of Coeio, Inc., a venture-backed funeral startup that’s bringing Infinity Burial Products to the market. Coeio has since added burial containers for pets, under the brand The Forever Spot.
In March 2019, actor Luke Perry was buried in an Infinity Burial Suit in Vanleer, Tennessee. At the request of his family, JR spoke about the Infinity Burial Suit at Luke’s memorial service at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, CA.
In March 2019, actor Luke Perry was buried in an Infinity Burial Suit in Vanleer, Tennessee. At the request of his family, JR spoke about the Infinity Burial Suit at Luke’s memorial service at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, CA.