Welcome to the future: Here's a dildo with an urn in it

Let’s face it, none of us really know for sure where we go when we die but, for a few of us at least, this is how it will all end.

Dutch designer Mark Sturkenboom has created a truly unique way to keep your lost late spouse just that little bit closer to your heart, apparently after realising traditional urns lacked sex appeal.

Intended for widows, Sturkenboom says his “memory box” will help recapture the feelings of intimacy that are all too often lost with bereavement.

It is called 21 Grams, the weight the human soul is said to hold, and the box contains a few things – most notably an acoustic amplifier, the scent of his aftershave and, of course, a transparent dildo to house the deceased’s ashes.

Don’t bother re-reading that. You had it right the first time.

Credit where it's due, it actually looks quite elegant. Photo: Mark Sturkenboom
Credit where it's due, it actually looks quite elegant. Photo: Mark Sturkenboom

“By bringing different nostalgic moments together like the scent of his perfume, ‘their’ music and reviving the moment he gave her her first ring, it opens a window to go back to moments of love and intimacy,” Sturkenboom writes.

“She is able to have an intimate night with her sweetheart again.”

The handcrafted wooden box comes complete with a brass key, which can be worn as a pendant, and containers to hold other keepsakes to keep his memory alive.

According to Metro, Sturkenboom was inspired to create 21 Grams after helping an elderly woman with her groceries.


“She always speaks with so much love about [her late husband] but the jar he was in didn’t reflect that at all,” he told the site.

“In that same period I read an article about widows, taboos and sex and intimacy and then I thought to myself “can I combine these themes and make an object that is about love and missing and intimacy?”

From there one thing led to another and Sturkenboom created the soon-to-be wild commercial success that is 21 Grams.

National news break – April 27