Talla Kuperman Creates Exquisitely Unique Jewelry With Love and a Happiness Guarantee
Remembrance jewelry has held a special role in the process of grieving and healing throughout history. From the cremation vessels of the ancients to the Victorian brooches and lockets preserving precious photos or locks of hair, these memorialization pieces have allowed us to quite literally hold a personal reminder of our loved ones close to our heart.
When a funeral director handed Forever LT founder Talla Kuperman an envelope containing her late 32-year-old brother’s fingerprints, she knew they held the power to heal her heart. She knew that she wanted to immortalize his prints in a piece of jewelry; it was, as she recalls, “the one part of your loved one’s body that you can completely replicate, as if you’re holding their hand.”
There was a problem, though. Not one piece in the limited selection of fingerprint pieces the funeral director shared were fit for a then-30-year-old. They weren’t hip, or cool, or even stylish. Even a decade after her brother’s passing, those fingerprints remained in that envelope because no company had yet created an option that met Kuperman’s expectations for dignity, quality, and style.
So she decided to do something about that.
First, Love Talla
“I was hoping someone had come up with something acceptable and stylish, and no one had done it yet,” Kuperman says. “I felt it was my mission. In my brother’s honor and his legacy, I started a jewelry line that people like us actually want to wear and cherish and love for a lifetime, and even pass on. That’s how Love Talla was born.”
Interestingly, Kuperman’s first foray into fingerprint keepsakes wasn’t a collection of memorial jewelry. Instead, her first company, Love Talla, took the concept mainstream, designing pieces for mothers showcasing their children’s fingerprints.
“Those babies formed their fingerprints while they were in the womb,” Kuperman says. “It’s just a beautiful thing to create in honor of your kids. The mom necklaces were amazing and beautiful and so cool, and they made moms cry. But the people who were going through the darkest moment of grief, those were the people who said, ‘This healed me,’ or ‘This has made me feel close to my loved one,’ or ‘This is a daily reminder, the most powerful piece of jewelry I’ll ever own.’ So I knew I was being pulled back into the grief world.”
ForeverLT, made with love
Before Love Talla reached its second anniversary, Kuperman created ForeverLT, a venture dedicated to exquisite, elevated jewelry pieces crafted from high-quality materials using the latest scanning technology.
“I like to tell people I’m the Nordstrom of fingerprint jewelry,” Kuperman laughs, adding that ForeverLT caters to a demographic that isn’t impressed by the offerings in funeral homes’ current catalogs and displays. “They can find stylish things here. And I have a happiness guarantee; I pour my heart and soul into each one of my pieces. Funeral directors who have seen my displays tell me it’s like nothing they’ve ever seen before.”
Kuperman says that her dedication to making jewelry that truly touches the heart has led her to explore new ways to exercise her design skills and leverage her tech and tools. For example, after meeting a mom who was grieving a child named Autumn who died in the womb at only 17 weeks, Kuperman found a unique and beautiful way to memorialize these beloved babies.
“I’ve never had a trauma like that, and I can only imagine how awful that was for her,” Kuperman says. “Unfortunately, the doctor had not taken a fingerprint, or even a footprint, which we could have used for jewelry as well. So we used an ultrasound image. We have now made necklaces for so many moms who were left with nothing; we’ve created something for them to be able to hold close to their heart.”
Less effort, but better results
Replicating an image as delicate as an ultrasound requires exceptional technology, and Kuperman spared no effort in finding the best tech and tools. She wanted a process that would produce exquisite results, but not necessarily come with a long learning curve — especially for time-strapped funeral home professionals who would be responsible for retrieving fingerprints of the deceased.
“One of my goals when I launched ForeverLT was that I was going to be the person who uses the state-of-the-art technology to streamline the process and make sure these funeral directors get the most perfect fingerprint scans,” Kuperman explains. “My goal was to use the best scanner in the marketplace, which is the same scan that the FBI uses. It takes two nanoseconds.”
ForeverLT provides partnering funeral homes with a tablet and a scanner free of charge so there’s no need for any employee to download a scanning app to their personal mobile devices. The program doesn’t require special lighting or excessive zooming in or out to focus or capture the right angle — just a quick snap, and you have a great fingerprint you can share with the family.
Kuperman explains that she took the process one step further, employing artificial intelligence (AI) technology into the customer relationship management (CRM) program each funeral home receives from ForeverLT.
“I built in AI technology so that when the CRM receives the raw fingerprint image the funeral director made, my technology goes in and cleans it up,” she says. “If there’s a space in the fingerprint that wasn’t captured by the scan, or if the scan is extra light, the AI technology fills it in or makes it darker. I’ve even cleaned up other company’s scans for clients. The result is an artistic, beautiful version of a fingerprint that you could even put on canvas and enjoy.”
Assurances for families and for funeral homes
ForeverLT’s incredibly accurate print replications are not only lovely; they also hold up to any family member’s scrutiny. Kuperman encourages funeral directors to share the loved one’s stored fingerprint image with families and compare it to the finished jewelry piece to confirm that they are an exact replica. They can do this, she adds, because the fingerprints are securely stored in the ForeverLT CRM system within an always-accessible Amazon cloud.
“We digitize everything for you, because I’ve found that funeral directors were unnecessarily taking 15 minutes or more to create folders and save scans and along with the deceased’s personal information,” Kuperman says. “So I streamlined the process to save the funeral directors’ time.”
Scans made with ForeverLT’s complimentary technology are immediately available to view, store, and send to families. Yes, it’s true; ForeverLT does not covet the prints you create. Instead, Kuperman and her team make the prints available for you to access anytime using a unique identification number and easily share with family members via email.
“I felt like people should be given the freedom to do anything they want with the prints,” she says. “I knew I had to design my customer experience differently, so I give them the fingerprints so they have all the tools they need to make a necklace or a ring or bracelet or whatever is going to bring them joy.”
ForeverLT is free and flexible
What might also bring joy is ForeverLT’s pricing and partnership structure. In addition to providing funeral homes with technology at no charge, Kuperman also gives you ten or so sample necklaces and a gorgeous display — all for free. In addition, she will provide every family-facing funeral director a necklace featuring the fingerprint of their own loved one.
“I make them a special necklace of whomever they want on their necklace so they can wear it, and so people can see it in real life,” she explains. “And I give a giant display because everyone has different tastes. I want that sister who just lost her brother walking into that funeral home, seeing the necklaces she likes, trying them on, picking them up, feeling that they’re not cheap and light, and just feeling that the necklace is worthy of their brother.”
ForeverLT’s jewelry line, on which funeral homes receive a commission for sales, begins with sterling silver pieces that can be further personalized with gold plating, cubic zirconia jewels, and custom engravings, including handwriting. Prices are competitive, even for solid gold options and designs featuring multiple fingerprints.
“I purposely priced the line so I don’t make a whole lot of profit because that’s not my mission,” Kuperman says. “I want it to be for almost everyone. Two-hundred dollars is still a lot of money and it’s not for every person, but I want it to be there for as many people as possible.”
Unconventional solutions for meaningful memories
Kuperman’s commitment to serving families has resulted in some extraordinary efforts to solve common issues. For example, she has found unique ways to obtain fingerprints that weren’t captured by the funeral home prior to disposition. ForeverLT’s technology is so sophisticated that it can replicate prints found in documents like military discharges or gun permits or prints embedded in paint or clay in children’s Christmas ornaments or finger paintings. There’s even a process for getting prints from the motor vehicle departments in the four states, including Texas, that make digital prints for drivers licenses.
“They do this for free,” she says of the Texas Department of Public Safety. “The people at Texas DPS are some of the kindest, most loving human beings, and they’ll even send a little condolence email when they release your loved one’s fingerprints. There’s no law forbidding them from releasing the fingerprints of deceased people to a funeral home.”
Another truly meaningful option offered by ForeverLT is the Grief Gift Box, an incredibly kind and thoughtful alternative to sending flowers to a grieving friend or family member. The Grief Gift Box includes a gift card in the value you choose, detailed instructions for your gift recipient to create a keepsake, and a handwritten message from you, all delivered in one beautifully wrapped package. It’s a gift that Khali Thogmartin, wife of DISRUPT Media’s and Connecting Directors’ Ryan Thogmartin, has given multiple times as a very special kind of condolence.
“Celebrating cherished memories has never been more meaningful, thanks to Forever LT’s fingerprint jewelry,” says Khali Thogmartin. “From the moment I met Talla and saw her stunning designs I was completely WOWed! The entire process was seamless and straightforward. The quality of the jewelry is exceptional and every detail was perfect. What impressed me the most was the level of personalization they offered, ensuring that the piece I received was not just a piece of jewelry, but a deeply personal keepsake. Her designs are stunning and like nothing else in the market. It’s more than a piece of jewelry; it’s a tangible reminder of love and memories, crafted with care and respect.”
Put ForeverLT on your shelf today
Talla Kuperman has removed all barriers to offering your families exceptionally crafted keepsake pieces with no commitment, no investment in tech or displays, and a generous commission program. Even so, she still encounters reluctance from funeral directors who feel that ForeverLT is too high-end for the families they serve.
“I hear things like, ‘Well, my demographic doesn’t pay for stuff like this,’” Kuperman recounts. “But you can’t make those decisions for your families. I tell them ‘Just put us on your shelf. It comes at no cost to you, and you get to use our amazing technology. But just put us on your shelf. You don’t even have to talk about us, because when people see our products compared to others, they see the quality. They understand that this is an amazing piece of jewelry.’”
If you’d like to provide ForeverLT a special place on your funeral home’s shelf, simply reach out to Talla Kuperman at talla@foreverlt.com or visit ForeverLT.com today.
