Dead fashionable: the sexiest coffin ever

Go out in style with this egg-shaped eco-friendly pod casket.

Death is something we all have to deal with at some point, and who wants to end up six feet under in a chintzy brass and pine casket? It sounds like a fate worse than death to us.

We'd much rather go to our final resting place in this coffin of the future, a sleek oval casket that looks more like a flying saucer. Straight from the drawing boards of German design house UONO, the prize-winning Cocoon will make you the envy of all the folks at your funeral.

"It's a piece of furniture with a high design standard - the last piece of furniture they'll ever buy," says designer Andreas Spiegel. "My strategy is to convince people to buy the Cocoon before they get to the funeral home." Well, they're going to have a job putting in their credit card PIN after they've got there, aren't they?

The icing on the cake is the fact that it's also environmentally sound, being constructed from jute and covered in water-based varnish. Basically, it's just as biodegradable as its occupant.

The Cocoon should be available shortly in the US, priced at around $3,500 (around £2,000). For more information, click here .