Ghana’s Fantasy Coffins: Meaning, Craftsmanship, and Sustainability Questions

It can start with a single photo: an airplane-shaped coffin painted the bright blue of a clear sky, or a giant fish with shimmering scales, or a cocoa pod, or a lion. For many people seeing Ghana’s “fantasy coffins” for the first time, the reaction is a mix of wonder and uncertainty. Wonder, because the craftsmanship is undeniable. Uncertainty, because death is supposed to look a certain way in our minds, and this looks like art—like story—like celebration. If you are grieving, or planning ahead, that reaction makes sense. Funerals are not only about what happens to a body; they are about how a community carries a person’s name forward.

In southern Ghana, particularly around Accra, these sculptural coffins are part of a living tradition associated with the Ga people. In many descriptions, you will see them called “fantasy coffins,” “figurative coffins,” or by Ga-language terms tied to storytelling and proverb. They are made to order by specialized carpenters and painters, and their shapes are chosen to speak—about a life, a role, a dream, a family history. As AP News describes, the designs can reflect profession, personality, or status, turning a coffin into a final, public portrait of identity. And as National Geographic notes, these coffins are often built to represent the deceased’s work, vices, or dreams—objects that communicate who someone was in the world.

This guide is here to do two things at once: explain the cultural meaning behind Ghana’s fantasy coffins with respect, and gently walk you through the real-world questions people ask when they feel inspired by the idea elsewhere—especially around materials, sustainability, and what “personalization” can look like in your own context. Along the way, we will also connect the thread to today’s broader reality: more families are choosing cremation, and personalization is increasingly expressed through cremation urns, keepsake urns, and cremation jewelry.

What “Fantasy Coffins” Mean in Ghana

One reason Ghana’s fantasy coffins feel so striking is that they refuse to reduce a person to “the deceased.” They insist—visually—that a life had texture. A fisherman might be buried in a fish-shaped coffin. A driver might be honored with a taxi. A farmer might be remembered through a cocoa pod. In some cases, the symbolism is straightforward. In others, it is layered, referencing clan identity, proverbs, or a family’s shared understanding of what the person represented.

The tradition is strongly associated with the Ga communities in the Greater Accra Region, where funerals can be major public events that affirm belonging and social ties. In many cultures, funerals are quiet and private; in many Ghanaian communities, funerals can be communal and expressive—music, movement, color, and a large circle of extended family and neighbors. A coffin becomes part of that language. It is not only a container. It is a message.

Even when Western audiences describe these coffins as “art,” it is worth holding a more grounded truth at the same time: these coffins are functional burial objects made for families. They are not costumes for grief. They are one way a community performs remembrance.

The Craftsmanship: How a Life Becomes a Shape

Fantasy coffins are typically built in workshops where carpentry skills and painting skills meet, and where apprentices learn by doing. A family brings an idea, a sketch, a conversation—sometimes a photo of the object, sometimes a story about the person. The makers translate it into structure: wood cut into curves, joined and reinforced, sanded smooth, then painted and detailed until it reads like the real thing. That realism is part of the emotional impact. A well-made fantasy coffin does not merely “suggest” an airplane; it looks like an airplane you could almost board.

There are well-known workshops connected to the history and growth of the tradition, including the Kane Kwei workshop lineage in Teshie, near Accra. The workshop’s own history emphasizes continuity—descendants and apprentices carrying the craft forward—while also reflecting how international attention has grown around the coffins. If you are curious about that lineage and how the craft describes itself today, the Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop offers background in its own words.

But it is important to remember: the point of a fantasy coffin is not fame. It is fit. Fit for the body, fit for the family’s budget, fit for the funeral timeline, and fit for what the family wants to say publicly about their loved one. According to AP News, these coffins can take around a couple of weeks to make, and costs can vary—details that matter because real grief is always paired with real logistics.

Symbolism You Can Understand Without Appropriating

When people outside Ghana feel drawn to fantasy coffins, the draw is often not the literal idea of being buried in a shoe or a beer bottle. The draw is the permission to be specific. The permission to say: “This person was more than a name on a program.” If that is what you feel, you are not alone.

There is a respectful way to learn from the tradition without copying it as a costume. It starts by understanding what the coffins do in their home context: they locate a person within community, ancestry, and story. You can bring that same intention into your own funeral planning through choices that fit your culture, your family, and your local rules—without trying to replicate a sacred tradition as a novelty.

For many families in the U.S., the closest parallel is not a sculptural coffin. It is memorial personalization after cremation: choosing cremation urns for ashes that match a person’s style, selecting small cremation urns so adult children can share, choosing pet urns for ashes that reflect a companion’s personality, or wearing cremation necklaces that keep someone close in everyday life. Those choices are not “less meaningful” than a fantasy coffin. They are meaning expressed through the tools your community recognizes.

Why Personalization Is Rising: Cremation Trends and the “After” of a Service

In many places, families now have more flexibility than they did a generation ago—especially because cremation has become increasingly common. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the U.S. cremation rate was projected to be 61.9% in 2024. And in the Cremation Association of North America public summary tables, U.S. cremation rates show a long-term rise through 2023, with growth that begins to slow as rates exceed 60%—a normal pattern when a choice becomes the majority.

That shift matters for a simple reason: cremation often moves memorial decisions into the weeks and months after the death. Families may choose a simple cremation first, then plan a gathering later, then choose a permanent memorial when the shock has softened enough to think clearly. This is one reason funeral planning today often includes two parallel questions: “What do we do now?” and “How do we want to remember over time?”

If you are comparing options, it helps to know that the question “how much does cremation cost” rarely has one neat answer. Pricing depends on direct cremation versus cremation with services, on local transportation needs, permits, staffing, and the memorial choices you add later. Funeral.com’s guide to how much cremation costs walks through common fee categories in a calm, practical way, so you can compare quotes without feeling like you are solving a riddle while grieving.

From Fantasy Coffins to Practical Questions: Sustainability and Materials

One of the most thoughtful questions people ask after seeing Ghana’s fantasy coffins is: what are they made of, and what does that mean for sustainability? The honest answer is that sustainability is not a single checkbox. It is a bundle of decisions—materials, finishes, transport, and local burial requirements—that can either align with your values or quietly conflict with them.

Fantasy coffins are typically wooden structures with layers of paint and protective coatings to achieve vivid color and durability. In a local Ghanaian context, these materials are part of a normal funerary economy: available, workable, and capable of carrying meaning. When people elsewhere try to translate the idea into their own setting, the sustainability questions often become sharper: Will the cemetery require a vault? Are biodegradable materials required or preferred? Are certain finishes or metal components prohibited by a green burial ground? Will transport emissions outweigh the material choices?

If environmental impact is important to you, it can help to learn how “green burial” is defined by organizations that set standards and education. The Green Burial Council explains green burial planning in terms of biodegradability and avoiding long-lasting materials, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs describes green burial generally as methods that refrain from chemicals, concrete vaults, and other non-biodegradable materials.

In other words, sustainability is not only about the coffin or casket itself; it is also about the system around it. A beautifully crafted wooden coffin can still become less “green” if it is placed inside a required concrete vault. Meanwhile, a simpler biodegradable container can become a strong sustainability choice if it fits a cemetery’s rules and avoids additional non-biodegradable components.

For families trying to make these decisions in real time, Funeral.com’s Journal offers clear, grounded guidance on green options, including biodegradable caskets and eco-friendly coffins and a broader overview of eco-friendly burial planning. These resources can help you ask better questions before you spend money—or before you fall in love with a design that your cemetery cannot accept.

If You’re Inspired by the Idea Elsewhere: Ways to Personalize Without Copying

If what you love about Ghana’s fantasy coffins is the storytelling, you can carry that spirit into your own choices in ways that fit your community. Some families do it through words: a eulogy that names the person’s humor and habits, not just their résumé. Some do it through music and images. And many do it through physical memorial choices that live in the home after the service.

For cremation families, personalization often begins with choosing a vessel that feels like “them,” not like a generic placeholder. You might start by browsing Funeral.com’s Cremation Urns for Ashes collection to see what materials and styles exist, then narrow based on where the urn will live—on a shelf, in a columbarium niche, or as part of a burial plan. If multiple relatives want a private memorial, Keepsake Cremation Urns for Ashes can support a shared approach, and Small Cremation Urns for Ashes can work well when “small” means “portion” rather than “less love.”

For animal loss, the same principle applies. Some families want a classic box, while others want something that looks like art—something that reflects personality. Funeral.com’s Pet Cremation Urns for Ashes collection includes a wide range, and Pet Figurine Cremation Urns for Ashes can feel especially fitting when you want the memorial to look like companionship rather than a container. If you are sharing ashes among family members, Pet Keepsake Cremation Urns offer a gentle, practical solution.

And for people who want closeness that moves with them, cremation jewelry has become a meaningful option. Some people choose a piece they wear daily; others choose a piece that comes out on anniversaries and hard days. If you are exploring this, you can start with Funeral.com’s Cremation Jewelry collection or browse specifically for Cremation Necklaces. For a calm explanation of what these pieces are and how they are filled and sealed, Cremation Jewelry 101 is a helpful starting point.

Keeping Ashes at Home, Water Burial, and Other “What Do We Do Now?” Questions

Often, the most emotional planning questions arrive after the cremation is complete, when the family is handed a container and the funeral home’s care ends. People ask, quietly: what to do with ashes? Is keeping ashes at home normal? Is it safe? What if we are not ready to decide?

Those questions deserve gentle, practical answers. Funeral.com’s Journal guide to keeping ashes at home walks through what families commonly do, what tends to feel steady over time, and what might feel uncomfortable later—without judgment. If you are thinking about a ceremony on water, Funeral.com also offers guidance on water burial planning through articles like biodegradable water urns, which explains the difference between float-then-sink and sink-right-away designs and how the setting changes what makes sense.

In other words, personalization does not have to mean a single dramatic choice. Sometimes personalization is simply choosing an option that matches the person’s values—simplicity, nature, family closeness—then giving yourself permission to take the next step when you are ready.

Where Ghana’s Fantasy Coffins Leave Us: A Better Question Than “Would You Do It?”

It is tempting to end a conversation about fantasy coffins with a yes-or-no question: “Would you want one?” But for most families, the better question is softer and more useful: “What would it mean to tell the truth about this life?” Ghana’s fantasy coffins answer that question with shape and color—public storytelling in wood and paint. Your family might answer it with a hymn, a photo table, a green burial choice, a carved urn, a small circle of keepsake urns shared among siblings, or a quiet cremation necklace worn close to the skin.

When grief is fresh, choices can feel heavy. The good news is that you do not have to solve everything at once. You can start with one meaningful decision, then build a plan around it—practical, compassionate, and true to the person you love.

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