Carbon Urns are all about top quality and design. To achieve this, the creators wanted to take the best from both worlds, and on the crossroads of advanced carbon fiber technology and premium design, the first product line - Etearnal - was born. The shape of the urn symbolizes both tears of sorrow and eternal flame, and it’s not just an urn - it’s both an artefact that showcases highly-skilled and experienced craftsmanship.
What makes Carbon Urns different from all other (carbon fiber) urns is the fact that the body of the urn - the vessel - is made from one piece of carbon fiber only. We’re pretty sure that all the carbon-fiber lovers and auto-moto enthusiasts out there know this is a big thing, so we sat down with the founder of Carbon Urns Gašper Ovčak who explained how this can be done.
Carbon Urns are an example of a piece of art where carbon fiber technology meets advanced design. Why is it so difficult to achieve this? What makes Carbon Urns stand out?
Gašper Ovčak: They say that the only constant in our lives is change - I believe in progress, in changes for the better. The same goes for funeral services and urns. It started with pottery jars, followed by metal jars, and in recent years, wooden urns have become popular. Although the funeral industry is considered traditional and conservative, I believe progress is needed and inevitable here as well. New and advanced materials and shapes are being introduced, urns can be personalized, so everyone can find the final resting place that resonates with them.
Years ago - I’ve been into the carbon fiber business for almost two decades - I realized that the carbon fiber market is well developed and competitive – but only until the point where racing souls make the final curve to the road to eternity. I realized there was no product on the market that would resonate with me, my passions, my personality, things that make me - me. So I decided to develop THE carbon-fiber urn - not just an urn made from carbon fiber, but a product made and developed with the same approach as used in the high-end automotive industry.
I believe carbon fiber as a material is a playground for the new era. Although Carbon has been here from the beginning (and it’s the 15th most abundant element in Earth’s crust), carbon fiber has only been here for less than 100 years. Because its production process is so complex. But on the other hand, it is so versatile. And to me, it’s also beautiful - its black graphite light reflecting carbon fiber details… Only high-end carbon fiber is used for Carbon Urns, and when the sunlight hits the fibers of the urn, it’s on the one hand extravagant, but on the other hand also humbling. Imagine a vessel with the best possible mechanical properties on the market - protecting you or your loved ones?
We have started this journey with really lots of thinking, and we firmly believe that there is no other material more appropriate for such an occasion. Carbon fiber is the core of Carbon Urns, but since this material can nowadays be found in so many different sports and areas of life, the urns can be customized and personalized with different materials - textiles, metals, stones, woods … Every material tells a different story, but most importantly, it resembles the person who resides inside. We at Carbon Urns believe that everyone deserves to be remembered for much more than just the way they left this Earth, and Carbon Urns are an eternal home for everyone who lived a grand life filled with adrenaline and passion. They reflect a person’s lifestyle and are a reminder of their full and action filled life.
Carbon Urns are not sophisticated design-wise only, but also technically. In order for the vessel to have a required volume, the walls need to be extra thin - how is this done? Why is this a job for experienced laminators only?
Gašper Ovčak: As mentioned, my background is in OEM business. While developing fuel tanks for racing motorcycles using our self-developed technology, we realized that our monocoque (= made from one piece of carbon fiber only) fuel tank has, depending on the model, at least 0.5 liter (17 oz) more volume compared to standard thick-walled roto-molded plastic tanks.
This makes total sense now, but we didn’t think of this in the beginning. For motorbikes, this is very important, because the vehicle range is extended for approximately 5% when driving under the same conditions using the same tank geometry and size. And this concept is applied also to Carbon Urns.
Our idea is that an urn should be sleek, elegant and discreet, not clumsy or large, but at the the same time have as large volume as possible to meet the standard 200 cubic inches.
While designing it, we have manipulated and changed perimeters a lot of times in order to find the most appealing visual appearance, as well as retaining the smallest possible outer dimensions and largest internal volume.
This was achieved using self-developed so called ACM technology - what makes this technology so special?
Gašper Ovčak: The ACM technology, developed by CDT Group, is unique because it allows us to use standard available pre-preg carbon fiber as well as standard available consumables such as vacuum bags, release films, breather fabrics, peel plies etc. We are able to produce unique monocoque parts with off-shelf material.
ACM technology was first developed for motorbike fuel tanks. What was the reason you decided to invent this? What are the advantages of such a fuel tank/monocoque piece? Where else can this be used?
Gašper Ovčak: As a teenager in the 1990s, in love with motorbikes and cars, I was following the fast growth and development of a company in Bled, Slovenia, that was producing carbon fiber parts. The company was the market leader in Europe at that time - there was no other company of this size making cosmetic carbon fiber parts for motorbikes and cars. In a couple of years, they became the leading producer of carbon fiber components for all important OEMs. They had a strong R&D team and have developed carbon fiber brakes and other super complex components. I have always been attracted to development and innovations so I always listened passionately to the stories of what was happening “behind the scenes”.
For years, I was heavily involved in electrone microscopy and UHV vacuum systems, gaining knowledge and expertise not many people possess, and working Europe-wide, from the UK to Greece. After more than a decade in this field, I got an opportunity to start a carbon manufacturing business - for me, this was an opportunity to combine my passions with my dreams, something everyone would wish for.
So I gave it a try. We started, employed a couple of people and things started to roll - we were producing carbon fiber parts, just like every other company did (fenders, panels, fairings etc.) and selling them as an unknown company at the time, called CDT-R.
After a couple of years, I thought - we need to distinguish our company from all other producers, if we want to be different, more successful. So I took a photo of a motorbike and checked it part by part, naming each part after a brand that was a benchmark for me - for instance, exhaust was Akrapovič, carbon wheels was BST and so on … The only part missing in this picture (or puzzle) was a fuel tank. There was no company that was a market leader, so I investigated a bit and realized there were only a couple of companies that dared doing it by bonding two halves together - leading to many leaks and problems. And this was my a-ha moment.
The next day I came to the company, assembled all the workers (there were 8 in the production at that time) and announced my findings: “We will make a fuel tank from one piece only - a monocoque!” Instead of applauding, they started laughing at me. I was shocked and surprised.
I asked them - why? Most of them used to work for the aforementioned big company, and the most experienced of them said: “The goal of our ex-employer was to make a fuel tank. There was a big development team, they had tried in different ways, but always failed. So your chances are even slimmer.”
But this actually fired me up. When working with electron microscopes which are super complex, I had learned to never say “it can’t be done”. Everything can be done, it’s just a matter of how much you want it and how much effort you put into it. So I said. “There is no thing that can’t be done. And we will do it.” The workers didn’t object. But they also didn’t agree.
In relatively short time I developed and constructed a special toolings that can be applied to the existing mold technology using standardly available production raw materials. I had two workers helping me in the afternoons and at weekends when the production was not running. One day, mid of week, at approximately 2 am, we unmolded the first prototype of a full monocoque fuel tank. We put the tank in the middle of the production hall and went home.
Next morning we came to work later than usual and all the workers were quiet, staring at the tank, not believing what they saw. It took us approximately 3 months to do something that had been deemed undoable.
ACM monocoque technology was then further developed to produce visual carbon parts with AA or A+ surface, and CDT was the first company on the market doing so. There are many advantages of ACM technology - such as a perfect visual appearance (no fiber distortion), there’s no leaking, no bonding… Of course there are also some disadvantages - you need a really skilled laminator and the production time is longer than with two-piece fuel tanks. So this technology can only be applied to special parts where a higher price can be justified.
A couple of years later, we have made the first full carbon crash bars for a motorbike using this technology. We showcased them in the biggest motorcycle show and were then invited to the BMW pre-development team for presentation and collaboration. ACM technology is also used for rear seat units for motorbikes due to its complex geometry. And the only logic next step was to use this technology in Carbon Urns where only absolutely the best is good enough.
Can you lead us through the production of the vessel step by step - what needs to be done? How much time do you spend on one urn? Why?
Gašper Ovčak: You need special molds to make a monocoque with AA or A+ surface - molds that have as little thermal expansion as possible because of curing cycle conditions of a pre-preg material.
The laminator doing this is almost an artist - has to be very skilled as well as have a really good feel for the pre-preg carbon fiber material. After lamination, custom made inner bags are positioned into the inner side of the closed shaped mold.
There is a custom designed and manufactured tooling for each geometry that allows to couple inner bags to standard autoclave vacuum tube connections. And prior to curing, the debulking (degassing) process must be applied. This debulking is completely different from the usual one, because it needs to prevent a full compression of the laminate for a certain amount of time due to the closed shape mold design.
When the part is cured in an autoclave, one must either have a lot of experience or proper equipment to measure differential pressure in monocoque. Normal autoclaves don’t have it, ours is modified to this feature. If you make a mistake, the internal pressure of 6 bars will literally crush the molds - which is very expensive.
This makes the lamination of a full monocoque part at least 50%, sometimes even more than 100% longer compared to the standard lamination.
Is the type of carbon fiber important for this procedure? What kind of carbon fiber is used for Carbon Urns?
Gašper Ovčak: If you’re an OEM certified supplier, the client provides a list of manufacturers of raw materials that can be used in your projects. It is not allowed to use unapproved suppliers’ materials. Only pre-preg material manufacturers that have the highest possible standards and quality are listed in our case.
All raw materials are scanned prior to and during the application of epoxy resin on carbon fiber to find and remove or mark possible fiber imperfections. Every roll of the material comes with a full report on several pages that you, as a manufacturer of cosmetic carbon fiber parts with AA or A+ surface, have to understand and take into account when producing parts. But this is a whole new area that deserves a dedicated article - so stay tuned for the next conversation, I’ll be happy to share more about the quality of carbon fiber.
