What does a custom casket designer have in common with Parting Pro? More than you might think. I paid a visit to Trey Ganem Designs to chat about innovation and the evolution of the funeral industry.
As I approached the shop, I couldn’t help but notice the surrounding town of Edna, Texas. It’s a blue-collar, time-arrested, small-town U.S.A. type of place. The old movie theater marquee still offers up the town entertainment. Quiet rainy streets are hardly occupied, even at noon.
Tucked in a corner off the main drag is the headquarters for Trey Ganem Designs. Trey is famous for his whimsical custom caskets that don’t memorialize, but celebrate. The news media loves his creativity. But the funeral industry…hates it.
I asked, “How do you manage being so different in a place like this? In an industry like the funeral industry that’s rife with tradition?”
He grins again and offers a simple explanation. “I love what I do. We do it with passion. We do it with purpose. We serve a need that the rest of the industry doesn’t want to. We make things for people that no one else will make. We say ‘yes’ when no one else will.”
“The death care industry is seeing an increase in cremation. How does your business stay afloat designing caskets?”
He fired back, “I don’t have an answer for that. The demand for what I create is from families, not funeral homes. Most funeral homes don’t like me because they think I cut into their business. But as long as families are calling me, asking me to make something, that’s what I’ll do.”
Which brings me to this: what does Parting Pro have to do with Trey and his off-the-wall designs? Innovation. Creativity. Passion and purpose. Willful disobedience of the status quo and “what has always been” in our business. We’re inspired by Trey’s drive to forge ahead without the old-timer’s approval. His business is flourishing because he gives families what they want.
We’re here for the funeral businesses who want to innovate, be creative, work with passion and purpose. We’re here for the funeral directors who advance our industry by implementing change. We’re here for the business owners who want to thrive, not survive. And like Trey, we enjoy challenging the status quo in death-care.