How Eterneva Is Creating Change In Death Care Through Revolutionary Memorial Diamonds

What if we told you there was a better way to approach the funerary process? More than 4 million lives have been lost as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many times that number of people have been impacted as a result. As the world continues to slide back toward normalcy as vaccination drives usher in crowd immunity, companies like Eterneva are helping to foster the grieving period for those suffering from and feeling the effects of a lost loved one.

Turning of the Tides, a Change in Funerary Care

While COVID-19 may have changed the world seemingly overnight, the funeral industry was in flux long before the pandemic became a daily part of our lives. Conventional burials can be traced back to between 3,000 and 1,100 BC in Ancient Greece. Only recently have we seen a shift from conventional burials and toward cremation, numbers supported by the National Funeral Directors Association. These numbers show that, time and again, millennials are shifting toward cremation as a step away from traditional funeral burials. 

Archer Adelle and Eterneva co-founder Garret Ozar believe that changing sentiments behind millennial thoughts on death are a big reason for the funeral industry’s abrupt shift. Archer cites her company’s direct-to-consumer operational process as one of the leading reasons for engagement among millennial clients. This sentiment is backed by the2020 Cremation & Burial Report, which saw projected cremation rates rise by 8% while burials lowered by another 7.7%.

How Eterneva Got Started

As many members of younger generations grapple with the loss of a loved one for the first time due to COVID, Eterneva is likely to garner some extra attention. Eterneva was founded by Archer and Ozar after briefly exploring synthetic diamond production. The loss of a loved one and beloved mentor would cause the duo to put a pin in their plans. Archer wanted to celebrate the loss of her good friend and longtime mentor and she decided to do so with a memorial diamond.

Instead of purchasing a simple urn or grave plot, Archer would use the carbon in her mentor’s ashes to develop a black memorial diamond. The results were jaw-dropping and Archer knew immediately that she wanted to share this process with others undergoing the grieving process.

Taking their concept to network television, Ozar and Archer appeared on an episode of Shark Tank where they won over the NBA’s Mark Cuban as an initial investor, placing $600k of his own money into the company. Cuban would fall in love with the idea of memorial diamonds while admitting that funerary care had hit a plateau and grown stale.

The Eterneva Process is Built on Science

Catering to the loss of a loved one can be difficult, especially when it is done over the internet, as through Eterneva’s new platform. To make up for this impersonal touch, Eterneva has introduced a state-of-the-art process with best-in-class customer service to ensure an experience that is as touching as it is celebratory.

The process begins with clients requesting a simple Welcome Kit. This kit gives clients the ins and outs of the service as well as a manual on how to prepare their loved one’s ashes. For clients uncomfortable with this process, Eterneva dispatches employees on the ground to personally help should you require it.

After shipping your loved one’s remains to the Eterneva office, the ashes undergo a process in a laboratory-based in Texas or Germany. Within these laboratories, advanced pieces of machinery work to purify and isolate the carbon in the ashes. Once isolated, these ashes are turned into a starter whereupon a synthetic diamond is grown. The process emulates the pressure and heat of the earth’s crust to create a synthetic diamond that is stunning.

After finishing the creation of the diamond, a master cutter and craftsman will ensure the quality of the memorial diamond. Optional finishing touches include setting the diamond in jewelry, infusing the material with another color, and custom grading and engraving. The entire process purports to take 5 and 7 months depending on the services requested.

Eterneva has partnered with 17 funeral homes at the time of this writing with future expansions already in the works.