Everything that Manuel del Moral knows about tombstones was taught to him by his father… the rest, which has not been little, he has had to learn. For a decade, this 50-year-old from Jaén has been preparing for one of the revolutions in the sector that has already arrived: porcelain tombstones. “It allows you to do things you can’t do with granite,” he explains, “it’s like designing the tombstone with Photoshop.” In fact, he has had to take photography and design courses to prepare himself. And now, along with the traditional tombstones, he offers personalized ones where anything can appear.”They have even asked me to put elephants,” explains Manuel, the order came from a man who was going to hunt in Africa. Most, however, want his house, his pet or his olive trees to appear, especially in Jaén where Manuel works. “For another who picked asparagus I designed one where the asparagus came out, his knife and even the cane he carried.” To do this, Manuel bought a camera with which he takes the photos that later end up printed on the tombstone. “Recently they asked me to photograph the pots that a deceased person had on the front of his house,” says Manuel. With that photograph, he designed a tombstone that, in addition to being original, is unique.Porcelain tombstone design.Manuel del MoralHigh pricesThere are more and more funerary ceramics in cemeteries, but marble continues to win. “For every porcelain tombstone they ask us for, they ask us for about seven or eight of the traditional ones,” explains Manuel del Moral. Tradition and, above all, price prevent the product from spreading more quickly. “You can put whatever you want,” says Juan Hermoso, manager of the Torredonjimeno funeral home. In recent years several have already been commissioned: one where the truck that the deceased was driving appears, another with the canaries that he cared for… “It gives a lot of versatility,” explains Juan, “but they are the most expensive on the market.” A tombstone basic conventional that is included in a death insurance can be around 500 euros, depending on the city. Funerary ceramics can cost up to four times more, between 2,000 and 2,300 euros. However, despite the price, it continues to expand. Tombstone design. CrearalFactories in Spain Manuel designs them and Juan commissions them, but it is Óscar Reina, manager of Crearal, one of the few companies that is responsible for manufacturing them. In its ovens in Malaga they are made at more than 1200 degrees, which allows the tombstone to last for many years without deteriorating due to the sun or changes in temperature. “They want something that lasts a lifetime and people pay for it,” he says. Until ten years ago, Óscar was exclusively dedicated to making tiles, but he saw business in funerary ceramics. “People don’t care about the price because it is the only payment they are going to make to the deceased”, says Óscar that he began to incorporate this service, from which he already receives an average of 200 orders per year. Most of his works are for Spain. Some as striking as a deceased to whom he had to put the photo of the car that he had just bought shortly before he died. He now also begins to receive orders from outside the country and has already made tombstones for Brazil and Portugal. Color Cemeteries Cemeteries are changing and with more than 50 years in the sector, Javier Pardo’s company knows it very well. Dedicated to the manufacture of tombstones, lately he receives more and more orders for porcelain. “At first it cost a lot to get them into the cemetery,” says Javier, “all the tombstones were white or black.” However, the color reached the cemeteries before the porcelain. “Some tombstones were painted by hand,” recalls Javier. Now what he does most are personalized colored porcelain tombstones, but he also works with digital printing on glass, glass with interior engraving or porcelain with volume… The question is to renew or die, even after death.