fredric j. baur

Fredric J. Baur, the designer of the Pringles potato chip packaging system died on May 4th leaving his family with a slightly odd request for burial arrangements. He was so proud of his design for Pringles that he asked to be buried in one of the cans. His family honored his request and a portion of his ashes were buried in the iconic can. This begs the question of what variety of Pringles he opted for or if he went with the original red can.


While this seems a bit unusual one must give credit to those with Mr Baur's burial creativity. Plus he's not the first. My favorite alternative to the ho hum coffin/ urn are the custom made coffins from Ghana. I first came across these brightly colored creations at the American Visionary Arts Museum a few years back. Basically they will make you a coffin in any shape, size or color you desire. Not to mention the craftsmanship is exquisite. Some of the ones I've seen are; a pineapple, a BMW, a shoe, an airplane and a bottle of beer. If you're gonna be buried why not have your coffin be an expression of your passions during life!

To read more about Fredric Baur check out the CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/02/pringles.burial.ap/index.html

For more on the coffin traditions from Ghana check out the following article from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/africanlives/ghana/ghana.htm