Why We Founded Solace

by KEITH CRAWFORD & DAVID ODUSANYA | Nov 15, 2019

By now, you’ve probably heard our story. Two “Nike guys” leave the sneaker giant in 2017 and launch our own creative agency, CO-Lab. Then about a year ago, we start exploring a new business idea.

We discover that people want an alternative to the traditional funeral business trappings and after our own negative experiences with the death industry, we launch Solace.

Disrupting an Industry

Hi, we’re Keith Crawford and David Odusanya and we’re disrupting the death care industry with an innovative approach.

KC: My own experience with a gloomy and beige traditional funeral home got me thinking about how a modern company could be different — the Solace approach: simple, honest, modern.

As I told AdWeek, “We realized very early on that the reason [the industry] hasn’t evolved is that it lives in a vacuum … No one wants to think about it until they have to and, when they’re in the middle of it, they want it to be over as quickly as possible.”

With nearly 40 years combined experience working with a powerful brand, our mission is to make things easier for consumers.

The Power of Design

With Solace, we are taking a fresh approach with a less gloomy, more modern, more transparent experience guided by good design and an online, consumer-centric approach.

As designers, we know that good design can improve an experience. By making our business simple, accessible and with a modern aesthetic, we are working to change an industry frozen in time. We’ve thought deeply about the details from a designer’s lens, like how to make an urn that is beautiful — but also recyclable — and how to design a website that conveys a thoughtful message, but only takes customers five minutes of their time to complete.

We think families don’t want to be bogged down with outdated sentimentality. We are there to help them in their time of need, but our business represents a fresh  approach to life’s inevitable ending. Our main focus is to put the families that we serve first and give them a simple solution.

DO: “We want families to spend time with each other in a difficult time like this,” as I told AdWeek. “We don’t want them to have to chase [paperwork and planning] down.”

The Right Time

Our company’s founding comes right in the midst of a growing “death positive” movement, increased concerns about the environment and the changing needs of more mobile populations.

With families spread across the country, we think the ease of an online cremation service helps those who need to find help in the Northwest, even if they live across the country.

Carbon Neutral

We also recently partnered with 3 Degrees to make Solace Cremation’s energy use carbon neutral, too.

And with the recent expansion into the Washington market, Solace now is offering its direct cremation services to residents in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

DO: “Our guiding principle in creating Solace was to help people navigate a necessary process in the least painful way,” as I explained to Willamette Week. “If we can make that journey easier for people and make a positive impact on their lives, there’s nothing more gratifying than that.”

Photo by: Grace Young