Santa Fe-based Parting Stone, which offers an alternative to cremation, is growing locally at a new facility.
The 8,000-square-foot space near the intersection of Interstate 25 and Cerrillos Road serves as the nexus for Parting Stone's expansion of its production and workforce. Parting Stone offers handheld "stones" which it creates in Santa Fe with human ashes.
Using cremated ashes sent in by customers and "a small amount of binder," the company makes a material that it says is heated in a kiln and hardened, the company's website says. Once processed, the remains are cleaned, polished and returned, according to the company.
Parting Stone currently employs 22 people in Santa Fe — up from eight last year — and has five open positions, founder Justin Crowe told Business First in a Jan. 19 interview. The startup saw a year-over-year revenue increase of 135% in 2021, Crowe added.
“The significant increase in orders put pressure on the production department to scale quickly," Parting Stone production manager Kelse Lighthizer said in a prepared statement. "We needed more space, more equipment, and more people to grow accordingly. Our new facility will help us increase our total order capacity [and] decrease wait times."
About $1 million worth of equipment, renovations and hiring for the new facility are in the works, and Parting Stone took over the entire building, according to Crowe. He added that the building was developed by The Miller Group.
Over the next three years, Crowe hopes for Parting Stone to have between 80 and 100 workers. In total, Parting Stone has raised $2 million in funding and of that money, $1 million is in the form of equity and the rest is from loans and debt, according to Crowe.
In October, American City Business Journals' publication Cincy Inno reported that Parting Stone had partnered with an Ohio funeral home to offer its product.
