Willow Tree Remembrance Figure

Remembrance is the Willow Tree figure people send when someone has died. Susan Lordi carves each original in wood and the cast resin keeps the knife marks, so the five inch angel holding a sprig of flowers reads as handmade rather than giftshop. There is no face. That is the point: the person receiving it fills in who it is for.

It suits the friend, coworker or relative you cannot be with in person, and the parent who has lost a parent. It sits on a windowsill or a desk and stays there for years, which is more than flowers do. People who received one during a loss tend to remember exactly who sent it.

It arrives boxed with a small sentiment card tucked inside the base, ready to mail or hand over. Resin and wire, about five inches tall. For the money it is the sympathy gift least likely to feel like an afterthought.