(415) 874-9698
(415) 874-9698
KINKARACO ® Green Funeral Products
670 Texas St.
San Francisco, CA. 94110
(415) 874-9698
© 2005-2023 all rights preserved all content protected.
"In 2004 I took a leap of Faith and went to work at FERNWOOD - California's 1st green cemetery. There I developed a vision for a new funeral aesthetic that was more culturally diverse, more feminine, while being 100% GREEN & biodegradable ....
At the time we were inventing "green burial" as we went along and everyone wanted a shroud burial so they brought in their quilts & shawls which were very difficult to wrap, carry and lower (and weren't even green!) So I designed a 100% biodegradable constructed shroud "product" that addressed all the issues we were having in shroud burial - making it a quick, easy and functional process to wrap, carry, lift and lower - in a single "all -in-one" unit. I made shrouds by night while arranging funerals, doing intake ,conducting green burials and observed cremations at Fernwood (& later Skylawn Cemetery) during the day .
"Then one day in 2005 , the Art Director from HBO's SIX FEET UNDER called me and bought my prototype shroud for their green burial episode! (AND I got to go and be on the set as the "shroud wrangler/green burial expert! Amazing!)
"At the time , you could count the people who even knew what "Green shroud burial" was on one hand (besides religious Jews and Muslims) so it was pretty difficult offering a green burial product to a funeral industry that didn't want it and online on a website to the public who thought it was illegal! I believed in Green Burial as a standard funeral option so much I just KNEW this would be needed in the future so I never quit- (even through the great Recession of 2008 when no one in the funeral industry wanted to buy anything Green ! )
Slowly we built a trusted network of funeral home resellers and green cemeteries that ordered from us the beginning, who also believed in this option as I did. Family owned funeral homes who contacted KINKARACO from the beginning had proved themselves great to work with, sincere and well intentioned. (All KINKARACO ® resellers sign an agreement to help families with anything they want that's legal in their state - including home vigils.) When a customer contacts us we first find the closest reseller near them to purchase products - saving them shipping costs and enhancing their local economies. Our intention is Being of reliable SERVICE to others . Our motivation is COMPASSION.
10 years later KINKARACO ® has been helping families find ecological, economical GREEN funeral products & services, green cemeteries and ethical funeral professionals who are willing to go the exta mile to responsibly fulfill families wishes for natural funerals!
"IN 2004 when I started working at FERNWOOD cemetery we were one of only 3 cemeteries in the US that allowed shroud burial and did not require vaults for environmental GREEN burial ! Now in 2015 there are over 100!"
TODAY we have changed the look of burial from this to this:
TODAY the public are more educated than ever about their sustainable options and asking are for sustainable funerals.
TODAY consumers can have a green burial in a shroud for environmental reasons without being a member of a particular religion!
TODAY for strong women can wrap, carry and lower their friend in a KINKARACO ® shroud found all over the US, in Canada and Australia . Or they can place a loved one in a gorgeous MORT COUTURE ™ shoud for cremation or inside a biodegradable casket!
TODAY there are modernVARANASI ™ shrouds for cremation sold in regular funeral homes for the cultural needs of Asian immigrants of the Sikh, Hindu, Jain and Buddhist observed cremations as well as for home funerals !
TODAY there are brand new hand drawn KINKARA-KART ™ Processionals
hand drawn ,hand American made caissons for cemeteries!
*2005 -Designed the 1st secular shroud for GREEN BURIAL,prototype debuts on Six Feet Under ,launched KINKARACO ® Green Burial Products website online
*2008-Named an "Entrepreneur Changing the Funeral Industry in BusinessWeek magazine and Picture of a KINKARACO ® shroud is put on the cover of American Funeral Director Magazine
*2009 -Introduced KINKARACO ® at the 2009 ICCFA Convention (where we introduced the PURELIGHT ™ Green Burial Shroud with lowering attached) & the VARANASI™ silk cremation shroud (first shroud made for cremation)
*2010- Awarded the Eileen Fisher Grant for Women with Sustainable Businesses and picture of the VARANASI™ shroud is put on the cover of American Cemetery magazine
*2012 Spoke on the Green Burial Council panel at ICCFA 2012 Convention
*2013- Gave "A HISTORY of SHROUDS" presentation at the ICCFA 2013 Convention
*2014 Introduced the KINKARA-KART ™ Processional (reproduction of the 19th Century funeral caissonsold to cemeteries. )
*2015 -Launched new KINKARACO ® E-Commerce website to the public as a "ONE STOP DEATH SHOP "connecting the public to our network and our world.
During this past 10 years our great group of forward thinking ethical funeral homes, green cemeteries and home funeral guides have helped hundreds of families and individuals get the natural funerals they wanted at half the cost. BEING of SERVICE to families in times of loss is our driving motivation and COMPASSION has always been our main intention so with Divine guidance of the Holy Beings and our like minded colleagues this has turned out to be a such a very meaningful path for everyone!
Thank you so much for allowing KINKARACO ® to continue with your amazing support and for helping us do this work we love . We are dedicated to continue our work developing new GREEN products and systems to help the funeral professionals and the public .
Please let us know your own experiences . Show us your pictures so that others can better understand what alternative funerals look like!
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© 2024 KINKARACO ® Green Funeral Products
Esmerelda Kent
Author