Now, it can be a way of death, too.

A New Mexico company is building all-wood human coffins in a partnership with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. They bear painted slogans, such as a tongue-in-cheek design that identifies the departed as “Lifetime PETA Member.”

Another, echoing a long-running PETA advertisement, serves up a last laugh in a coffin that proclaims, “Told You I Wouldn't Be Caught Dead in Fur!”

The products, which went on sale last week, are priced from $620 to $670, which includes a $75 PETA contribution. Made of solid wood, they are designed to be earth-friendly with no screws, nails, hinges or animal-based glues.

Joan Calpin, a 40-year-old health insurance billing clerk and PETA member in Middletown, Del., plans to buy one.

“It's a great idea,” she said. “For myself and a lot of my friends who are activists, everybody always says, 'All my life, I've helped animals.' Well, now you can say it even after your life is over. You're still helping animals.”

The coffins are made by a company called The Old Pine Box in rural Edgewood, about 30 miles east of Albuquerque.

Dienna Genther, a former construction worker from Bellingham, Wash., runs the company from her home. She began handcrafting coffins from pine, cedar, poplar, maple and other woods in 2004.

Seeking an affordable earth-friendly product, Genther, 44, left a career in home construction in 2003. She needed a new vocation and saw coffin building as a way to help rural New Mexico residents, many of whom are poor.

“Most people who live here can't afford to live, let alone die,” Genther said. “Just because you're poor doesn't mean you have to be buried in a cardboard box.”

That's where PETA came in. The animal-rights group had been contemplating the coffin project over the past year and was looking for a partner.

"It was a simple process,” said Michael McGraw, a PETA spokesman in New York. “Old Pine Box was easy to work with. As you can see on her Web site, it is a concept that resonated with her, too.”

McGraw said the organization has about 2 million members and supporters, suggesting there are plenty of potential customers.

“We expect a healthy interest,” he said. “It's the best way for people to continue to use their voice for animals in death.”

When initially contacted, Genther said she thought PETA wanted to discuss an agreement to market coffins for pets. Her company builds those, too.

“But then they sent the designs, the classic toe-pincher style, and I realized they wanted human coffins,” she recalled. “I told them, 'We can do it.'”

Genther is not a PETA member but, “I support their cause.”

While some designs might seem irreverent, Genther said the PETA coffins aren't unusual. For years, she noted, funeral homes have offered stylized coffins that can be adorned with religious symbols or even sports team logos.

Given the chance, the artist in Genther embraced the offer to work with PETA.

“Something new is always fun,” she said.

The coffins can be customized in any way the customer can imagine. Genther's sister, Corinne Marie, hand-painted angels and other images on some of the coffins displayed in the company's showroom.

“It's a creative outlet for my art, and having art that's geared toward adorning someone's coffin is quite a privilege,” Marie said. “I'm honored every time I get to do somebody's coffin or somebody's urn.”

Genther was finishing work recently in her wood shop on a coffin that will serve as a wine rack until it is needed for its primary function. The coffins also can be used for storage or other purposes.