A Devon-based company that has spent over two decades creating bespoke woollen funeral shrouds is launching a mail-order kit that allows people to design their own shroud covers. Bellacouche, founded by Yuli Sømme, will introduce the heirloom cover kit at the Bovey Tracey craft festival this weekend.
Personalised covers offer comfort and connection
Andrew Kent, whose wife Claire died recently, designed a shroud cover featuring fabric leaves in greens, browns, and golds—colours she loved on walks. Each of their three children took one leaf home, while the others were stitched onto the wool cover. “The shroud cover took away the anonymity of the traditional coffin,” Kent said. “It meant that during the funeral, we were looking at designs that made us think of her life rather than at a cold, anonymous box.”
Sømme explained the benefits of making the covers oneself: “It cuts across a lot of taboos but I think it’s more beneficial if people make the covers themselves. You get more out of it in terms of wellbeing and the conversations you have with other people while you’re working on it.”
Growing interest in alternative funerals
The launch comes as more people seek alternatives to traditional funerals. Green burials are becoming increasingly popular, and unconventional memorials such as ash reefs have gained attention. The £155 kit includes a felt cover in three sizes, a needle-felting tool, needles, wool, and access to online tutorials. Users can add dyed wool fibres and naturally dyed felt to create unique designs.
Business transition and future plans
After the launch, Sømme will hand over her business to four local people, including two former customers, who hope to expand its reach. Ideas include shroud covers for pets and workshops in schools, hospices, and care homes. Ysanne Friend, one of the potential buyers, is designing a shroud cover for herself. “I don’t expect to die any time soon,” she said. “But I’ve experienced three deaths and three births in the past decade, and I’m finding it very healthy and comforting to think about my relationship to death now rather than when it’s suddenly at my door.”
Demand drives new offering
Sømme decided to sell her business after 22 years because demand had become overwhelming. “I get inquiries about personalised shroud covers every day and commissions at least once a week,” she said. The popularity of her workshops also convinced her there was demand for a home-completion version. Over the years, she has created covers featuring helicopters, banjos, gardening implements, sheepdogs, crows, and Spitfire aircraft. “They’re incredibly popular for some reason,” she noted.
Personal inspiration
Sømme’s interest in shrouds began after her father died when she was five. “I used to find it very comforting to wrap myself in his cardigan,” she said. She later developed a technique for making woollen shrouds and, after exhibiting them as artworks, began receiving commissions. One commission came from Christel Goodwin, whose husband Brian died. Students, friends, and family contributed designs to his shroud cover. There were so many that some had to be placed inside the shroud; one friend recreated the moon exactly as it appeared on the night Brian died. “It was such a beautiful display of love,” Goodwin said. “The process of making the designs triggered so many different stories about Brian. It was an act of love expressed in beauty.”
Challenges to personalisation
Rupert Callender of the Green Funeral Company noted that while interest in personalised funerals has steadily increased during his 26 years in the industry, it now faces an “existential threat.” “I’ve never been busier but we’re fighting against the reality of living in a time where there’s a massive financial squeeze and the prices that the venture capitalists, who offer processes like direct cremation, seem irresistible,” he said. “That’s the existential threat to the personalisation of funerals.”
