Ghanaian Fantasy Coffins

I've been watching a National Geographic mini-series on Africa on DVD recently. I like the way they go back and forth between the people, animals, and geography of various parts of the continent. I was just watching it while I was putting together an office chair I got for The ♥G♥ for Sweetest Day and they had a segment about these carpenters in Ghana who make these whacked-out coffins. Check 'em out!

• BBC photo essay on coffin makers.
• Book on Ghanian coffins.
• NPR feature story.
• Death online.
• National Museum of Funeral History.
• Washington Post story. Excerpt: The Norteys (the family of the departed) sought the services of Joseph Tetteh, who has become world famous crafting designer coffins. It is not uncommon for foreign tourists to stop by his workshop and buy them. Two years ago former president Jimmy Carter visited his shop and bought three: an eagle, a fish and a bell pepper. Tetteh, one of several makers of custom coffins in the Accra area, has made attention to detail his trademark. As he prepared Holala's four-door wooden Mercedes, he included windshield wipers, rearview and side-view mirrors (with real glass), an antenna (apparently taken from a radio), a Mercedes-Benz emblem on the hood, exhaust pipe, reflectors and tags (GG7155).