By Thomas A. Parmalee

Max Lemper-Tabatsky teamed up with Miles Adams, formerly the head of operations of Tulip Cremation, to launch Honos about four years ago, which aims to redefine memorialization by offering families a selection of modern, innovative urns.

Honos is comprised of two brands: a consumer-facing business, Oaktree Memorials; and a wholesale business that sells urns directly to funeral homes, Samuel Mitchell Design.

Originally from New York, Lemper-Tabatsky, 30 (pictured at right in the photo at top), met Adams (pictured at left in the photo at top) after relocating to San Francisco. The two both worked for PJT Partners, a premier, global, advisory-focused investment bank.

“For about 10 months, we worked closely together before Miles transitioned to lead operations at Tulip Cremation, where he stayed until their acquisition by Foundation Partners Group,” he said. “In early 2020, we reconnected and found ourselves sharing personal and professional reflections on navigating loss and memorialization. Through these conversations, we recognized a gap in the market for modern memorials, and that realization became the foundation of our business.”

The conversations happened at the right time, Lemper-Tabatsky said.  “I was trying to see what else was out there and wanted to figure out something new,” he said. “I didn’t necessarily know what path it would take me down.”

Adams was the perfect person to connect with to think big. “He also had an entrepreneurial itch,” Lemper-Tabatsky said. And it was clear he was “really underwhelmed with the urns and memorials” available to families.

Lemper-Tabatsky felt the same way. He noted that while some companies, such as Eterneva and Parting Stone, have brought innovation to the cremation space, there are not many others offering families something new.  “What you find at Amazon is really what you get at most funeral homes,” he said.

Adams’ frustrations with the urn selection that was readily available resonated with Lemper-Tabtasky, who remembered his mom keeping the cremated remains of his grandmother in a closet for several months after receiving an urn from the funeral home.

“She did not want a big metal container in the living room,” he explained. “Really, from a décor point of view, she had modern tastes.”

Adams had a similar experience when his family’s golden retriever died, and his family simply could not find an urn that they liked, according to Lemper-Tabatsky.

The two friends put their heads together, and Adams shared some of the insights he’d gleaned working in death care during his time at Tulip.

“We were like, ‘Maybe there is something we can do about this,” Lemper-Tabatsky said. “This hit home personally, and as we did more R&D, we saw an opportunity to create something new.”

Starting a Company

The two friends launched Honos, with Adams serving as chief executive officer and Lemper-Tabatsky taking on the role of chief operating officer.

They initially raised a seed round of capital through angel investors.

“We’ve raised just over $1 million with the help of angel investors and support from our friends and family,” Lemper-Tabatsky explained. “This funding has allowed us to work on launching new products, set up our fulfillment center in Denver, and bring on some talented team members who are fueling our growth.”

He continued, “Given how challenging the fundraising market has become, we’ve been careful to focus on growing profitably, instead of pouring money into advertising and burning through cash. Thanks to this approach, we’ve been able to grow our direct-to-consumer brand (Oaktree) and our B2B brand (Samuel Mitchell), while staying true to the investors who believed in us from the start.”

The nature of the business means that even customers who come back only do so every few years – and often, they may simply be one-time customers, Lemper-Tabatsky said. “We are focusing on growing slower but more efficiently,” he said. “You are forced to do that in this industry – it tends to move slower.”

A selection of urns made by Honos.
The Big Idea

The two men concluded that families would appreciate urns that could be in the background and that “you wouldn’t even know it is an urn,” Lemper-Tabatsky said. These families were an untapped market — and they had a need.

In other words, people wanted an urn that most people would think is a vase or beautiful piece of art.

“It would be something you could live with in your living room, and a friend or family member would not ask, ‘Who is in there?’” Lemper-Tabatsky said. “They may say nothing at all or they may say, ‘What is that beautiful piece?’ You could live with it more discreetly and seamlessly – it would be a living memory you can be proud to have.”

They rolled up their sleeves and did the hard work necessary to create an urn collection – pieces that are manufactured in the United States as well as in Italy and some other overseas locations.

“A few ways we’ve described our business include: ‘urns that don’t look like urns,’  ‘the West Elm of urns,’  ‘memorials made for the modern home and individual,” and ‘interesting lives deserve interesting urns,’” Lemper-Tabatsky said.

Coming up with an urn selection that would resonate with families was no easy task, Lemper-Tabatsky said.

“That was really something we had to figure out as we went,” he said. “We hired design and manufacturing consultants, and with the help of advisers and a small team, we have created those manufacturing relationships on our own.”

Asked to provide some insights on some of its more popular urns, Lemper-Tabatsky said its top seller is The Bleecker, which is “a stunning icosahedron – a 20-sided polyhedron – crafted from rich walnut hardwood.” He added, “It comes in three sizes, and we’re excited to introduce a lighter oak version later this year to complement the walnut.”

Another favorite is The Hudson, which is available in six finishes and four sizes, he said. “The multicolor option is especially beloved by pet owners, symbolizing the rainbow bridge, and is also embraced by the LGBTQ+ community as a vibrant, celebratory way to honor life,” he said.

The Thompson stands out with its luxurious design, featuring a soft Florentine velvet interior and a removable tray, “perfect for storing personal keepsakes like letters, jewelry, or watches,” he said.

Lastly, The Amore and The Pyramid necklaces are the most popular choices for customers seeking cremation jewelry. Customers appreciate their “elegant, discreet and modern designs,” Lemper-Tabatsky said.

The Bleecker urn by Honos.

Reaching Out to Funeral Homes

Once Honos started to grow market share through its Oaktree Memorial brand, it found that funeral homes and pet crematories wanted to know more about buying urns directly from the company.

So, toward the end of 2021, it launched a separate brand – Samuel Mitchell Design (which is a combination of the founders’ middle names) to work directly with funeral homes and pet crematories.

“It’s our wholesale brand, and it offers a lot of the same products as our consumer brand,” Lemper-Tabatsky said.

According to the Samuel Mitchell website:

We made our first urn using sustainable woods completely by hand, and we still do everything entirely by hand in that same tradition today. We have grown to include workshops in Colorado, Ohio, Italy, and England.

Our team brings decades of expertise to their crafts to ensure your families receive a work of art that we’re proud to stand behind. At Samuel Mitchell, we are driven to create memorials that are of exemplary quality and innovative design, while remaining environmentally-conscious with the materials we select.

Today, Samuel Mitchell Design works directly with about 100 funeral homes and pet crematories, primarily in the United States with a few in Canada as well. The team regularly attends industry conventions to build its wholesale business, Lemper-Tabatsky said.

“We have to prove to the industry that we are here to stay,” he said.

The reason the duo created a separate brand to serve funeral homes is that they wanted to create a dedicated offering for funeral professionals. “We want to make sure they know we are focusing on their needs,” Lemper-Tabatsky said.

Many customers order products on demand, as customers request them. “Only a select amount will hold inventory,” Lemper-Tabatsky said. Products can be shipped and engraved overnight, he said.

But customers can get products to display, printed materials as well as a digital catalog, so they can sell urns to families through an online store or via a more traditional catalogue.

As for pricing, a typical example would be a funeral home or pet crematory buying an urn for $200 and selling it for $400, he said.

Samuel Mitchell Designs provides a manufacturer’s suggested retail price, but funeral homes can charge whatever they like, he said.

So far, the Oaktree Memorials unit of Honos contributes the lion’s share of revenue to the company – about 75%, Lemper-Tabatsky said.

Most of the company’s business comes through its own website, but it does sell cremation jewelry through Amazon. “People do not go on Amazon for premium urns and such,” he said. “There is so much competition – and most of the products are mostly under $100 retail.”

The company has, however, had a good deal of success selling urns through Etsy. That audience “wants something handmade,” he said.

Most of the human urns that the company offers sell in the $195 to $945 range. The average sale is about $395, he said.

Honos also sells a good deal of pet urns, which it sells in the $95 to $945 price range. The average pet sale is about $295, he said.

The majority of urns that Honos sells – about two-thirds – are engraved with the name of the deceased human or pet. Using that as a gauge, Lemper-Tabatsky estimates that about 60% of the urns it sells are for human family members.

As for how the company is engaging in outreach, in addition to exhibiting and attending industry conventions to market its wholesale brand, it devotes a lot of attention to Google as buying an urn is “such a high intent purchase,” he said.

“We really reach people through Google where everyone searches, and we have an Instagram and TikTok account which is more organic – as well as a blog and resource center,” he said. “We are really trying to be as helpful as we can.”

So far, Lemper-Tabatsky is happy with results — the company has already served over 50,000 families, he said.

 

The Pyramid necklace, a piece of cremation jewelry made by Honos.

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