British pensioner Malcolm Brocklehurst loves Blackpool Football Club and his former profession of aircraft engineer, and he has no plans to abandon them in death. So his final home will be a coffin shaped like a plane, painted bright orange and emblazoned with the Blackpool

“I want a fun funeral. I don’t want people crying and that, “ the 77-year-old said as he leaned happily on his casket, on show at London’s Royal Festival Hall as part of an event titled Death: A Festival for the Living.

The wings of his plywood coffin are removable, Mr Brocklehurst points out, for easier access to this local crematorium.

The “art” piece is the work of Crazy Coffins ­– an offshoot of a Nottingham-based traditional coffin and urn maker which took on a new identity in the 1990s when people began asking to customise their final resting places

A commission for a pearlescent coffin for the late British TV presenter Paula Yates, who died in 2000, helped make the firm famous, as did several appearances in the press.

“The customers are the designers, we just make what they ask. We say to people, ‘There’s a choice in that final decision’”, said David Crampton, the firm’s managing director. Mr Crampton’s firm has made coffins and urns in the shapes of Viking boats, cars – including a Rolls Royce Phantom with working wheels – skateboards, a cork and a kite.

Many of their creations are now six feet under, but others have been commissioned by people who are still alive and well but planning their own farewells in advance.

Jude Kelly, artistic director of the festival, says that “most of us ordinary mortals find discussing (death) quite tricky.” However, the festival itself aims to help break the silence. In fact the firm’s website urges customers to “Buy first, die later”.

Crazy Coffins staff say the growing popularity of their creations is a sign that people are becoming more open on the topic of their final exit – as are the crowds of visitors at the event who pose for photos with, and even in, coffins.

The “Death – Festival for the Living” exhibit in London was open between January 20 and yesterday.