Adrienne Crowther’s demographic research spurred her to start an online urn company.

by Jess McCuan . photo by Anthony Bellemare

Adrienne Crowther wants people to think outside the box—the funerary box, that is. Her web-based Asheville company, Shine On Brightly, sells artful cremation urns and memorial objects, like jewelry, paintings and ash-filled paperweights. Unlike most funeral parlors, which sell mass-produced coffins and cremation vessels, Crowther’s are all handmade by some 30 local artists.

Crowther, 53, was executive director of the Asheville Area Arts Council from 2005 to 2007. Because of her AAAC connections and her longtime interest in the local art scene, she’s had no trouble linking up with WNC artists who make memorial pieces—like an ash-filled pendant for $430, or a “legacy poem” for $200. What’s been more challenging, though, is figuring out, as a first-time entrepreneur, how to steer her unusual business. A few years ago, she read a book, Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death. In it, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen describes various death-industry trends, including the fact that Baby Boomers (now between ages 46 and 64) are very interested in personalization—think eco-friendly funerals, or NASCAR funerals—ceremonies and items that give a sense for their personality.

After lunch with Cullen and more of her own research, Crowther discovered several things: within 20 years, many of the country’s 77 million Boomers will die. More than a third will likely choose to be cremated. In fact, cremation rates have shot up in the past 20 years—from around 15 percent in 1985 to around 35 percent in 2007—a trend that the Cremation Association of North America expects will continue. Because Boomer children are more spread out geographically these days, they’re less likely to attend a funeral. But they’re increasingly likely to post something on a memorial website for mom or dad, or to order some sort of memorial product. In light of all this, selling personalized urns and memorial items online seemed like just the ticket. “I’ve always loved the idea of using art to memorialize,” Crowther says.

Sadly, a little more than a year after she started the company in 2008, her husband of 29 years became ill and died. His sister died of cancer shortly after. Crowther, a New Jersey native who has lived in Asheville for 14 years, was shattered, and she took several months off. But now she sees that the tragedies have helped her run her business, giving her a deeper empathy for grieving clients. “At first, I thought—How did this all happen? I start this business and then go through these colossal losses,” she says. “Now, I feel like I’m supposed to be doing this.”

Shine On Brightly has grown steadily in two years, with its largest customer bases on the West Coast and in the Northeast. Last year, she started selling urns wholesale to local funeral directors, an area of the business she’s trying to expand. She’s seen tremendous growth in memorial jewelry, and she’s noticed increasing interest in pet urns and memorials, which she’d like to someday spin off into a separate business.

You’d think Crowther’s company would make her gloomy. But she chose the name Shine On Brightly for its sunny connotations, and she says thinking about death round the clock really doesn’t faze her. “I hear sad stories all the time,” she says. “What I tell people is—you can’t change it. You can’t change what happened. But I’m glad I have something positive to offer to families.”