Bittersweet Bears

December 29, 2004 6:56 AM

Bittersweet Bears "When a loved one becomes a memory, make the memory a treasure." Teddy Bears made from the clothing of a loved one.
posted by ColdChef (16 comments total)

i don't know but this kinda creeps me out
why not just keep some of your loved ones clothing?
posted by halekon at 7:00 AM on December 29, 2004

This is like those rings and other jewelry made from the cremated remains of your loved ones, but a little less relevant.
posted by crazy finger at 7:15 AM on December 29, 2004

Bittersweet Bears realizes the sensitivity in asking families for clothing. To address this concern, we offer a gift certificate which includes postage and handling that can be given directly to the recipient. The certificate will be valid for one year. However, the recipient will be contacted prior to the expiration date and clothing will be requested or an extension will be offered.

1) "Sorry your wife's dead. here's a gift certificate for a tatty stuffed bear made out of her clothes that you send them. You can use that shirt you kept that you think still sorta smells like her."

2) The gift certificate expires after a year? I'd call that ridiculous if I expected this venture to last for a full year.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:21 AM on December 29, 2004

Memory quilts, made out of the clothing of people who've passed on, are a traditional remembrance. I don't see this is as significantly different.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:42 AM on December 29, 2004

Memory quilts, made out of the clothing of people who've passed on, are a traditional remembrance.

Aren't those usually more personal, though? As opposed to shipping the clothes off to a stranger and in 6-8 weeks getting a bear that seems to follow a fairly generic plan?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:46 AM on December 29, 2004

Reminds me of that victorian jewelry made from the loved one's hair. I think what creeps me out is that teddy bears are a toy, and not a keepsake that really respects the memory of the dead. A quilt is slightly different, especially if you make it yourself. It is an heirloom, not something designed to be used as entertainment.

Cute, cuddly teddy bears just seem to clash with the feelings you have about a lost loved one. If someone had given me one of these certificates when my dad died, I would've thought they were a ghoul, and torn it up, and maybe not spoken to them for a while, or ever again. It trivializes grief.
posted by emjaybee at 8:23 AM on December 29, 2004

For a lot of people, dolls and bears aren't toys, but heirlooms and collectables. This is clearly targeted at that segment of the population that values them in that way.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:21 AM on December 29, 2004

I think what creeps me out is that teddy bears are a toy, and not a keepsake that really respects the memory of the dead.

I don't particularly like this idea, but many people collect teddy bears and in no way treat them like toys.
posted by agregoli at 9:25 AM on December 29, 2004

I've no problem with the idea in itself, but if I'd lost someone and was offered one of these things, I'd have to wonder about the sanity of whoever sent the voucher. There's something about the idea of remaking an item that's connected to a dead loved one into this little... faux-alive thing with arms and legs and empty eyes, that just strikes me as unbelievably creepy. But then, I never have liked things that looked alive and weren't. No doubt these bears offer comfort to some people dealing with loss, and for that I'm glad someone's making them. I just really, really wouldn't want one in my house.
posted by terpsichoria at 9:35 AM on December 29, 2004

the recipient will be contacted prior to the expiration date

Whoa, precog.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:51 AM on December 29, 2004

...So what if they die of a horrible infectious disease?
posted by TwelveTwo at 10:50 AM on December 29, 2004

$130!!!!!!!!

It's creepy as all get out, but that puts it over the top.
posted by rainbaby at 11:10 AM on December 29, 2004

You could make these things yourself if you had basic sewing skills. I might make such a bear out of say, a child's favourite, outgrown dress, but it would be so that the child could enjoy the bear, or just for the sake of being frugal, NOT as a token of mourning.

Grief makes people do strange things, and I have a definite distaste for those trying to cash in on that.
posted by orange swan at 11:31 AM on December 29, 2004

As creepy as lifegems?
posted by Espoo2 at 11:57 AM on December 29, 2004

This is just creepy.

When my grandmother died, I was given one of her brooches to remember her by. It's a hideous thing that I wouldn't dream of wearing, but I keep it because I can remember her wearing it and it makes me smile when I look at it. But it lives in a drawer in between the times I look at it.

I have a teddybear that was given to me when I was born. On transferring between schools and shortly after I learnt to sew, I made a ribbon to tie around my bear's neck from the summer uniform dress I wore at my first school. My bear now reminds me of my early schooldays as well as my early childhood, and is a much-loved possession. One of the things which makes my bear so special was that I sewed the ribbon myself. Being presented with a ribbon made from someone else hacking my dress to pieces would feel very different. For people who really 'get' teddybears, they are not simply objects to look at. They are companions, confidantes and security blankets.

The thought of somehow combining these two ideas into one turns my stomach. Creepy.
posted by talitha_kumi at 1:49 PM on December 30, 2004

Cute, cuddly teddy bears just seem to clash with the feelings you have about a lost loved one.

yeah, but if you look at the site they're clearly not making Gund style squeezable stuffed animals. They're making "heirlooms" as they say on their page - weird collectible artifacts meant to preserve a memory.

Although the idea of getting a gift certificate for such a thing is really just bad. I can allow for someone who loves sewing and is grieving to make something out of the loved one's clothes, but as PST said above, this is a really impersonal way to do that, and it comes out feeling all wrong. Lifegems is creepy because of what it's actually made of, whereas this just seems to be outsourcing the whole point of the memory quilt thing, which would be thinking about the person as you make something personal...
posted by mdn at 3:43 PM on December 30, 2004