Death is something we all experience. But what we don’t experience much anymore is the actual dead body of our loved ones.
Jonas Zahn didn’t plan to make a career in casket-making. But when his grandfather died, Zahn and his family built a casket for him. It was a time for them to be together and to share their memories of their grandfather.
“Something I realized in that process is how disconnected I was from death,” says Zahn. “I got to go to his house and experience the body of my grandfather. I realized that’s the only time in my life, unless you are in a medical or emergency response profession, we don’t really encounter deceased bodies.”
That unique situation and experience left an impression on Zahn, one he thought that other families would benefit from as well. So he decided to start a sustainable casket business, Northwoods Casket Company, marrying his interests in the environment with the handcrafted ethic his family brought to the casket they constructed for his grandfather.
“Everything we make is made in Wisconsin by Wisconsin craftsmen from Wisconsin woods,” says Zahn.
It’s a personal and local touch that Zahn believes is lacking in the funeral industry. It’s a emotional work that doesn’t change no matter how many caskets they make.
“Every one of these caskets is somebody’s mom or dad,” says Zahn.
