At 22, she is Singapore's youngest apprentice embalmer

Fave Tan Jia Xuan, presently an apprentice embalmer at The Life Celebrant, first stepped into the funeral industry at the age of 20.

When she was 14, Fave left school and began to take up different jobs, including make-up classes, according to Chinese evening daily, Shin Min Daily News.

Becoming an apprentice embalmer

Her many attempts to join the funeral industry was unsuccessful. She called and submitted her resume to different companies but did not receive a reply.

Her ambition is to be an embalmer, and according to her, this is "her dream job." Presently, besides being an assistant during the embalming process, her main role now is to perform make-up for the deceased.

She said, “as compared to doing make-ups for a living person, the most important aspect of performing make-ups for deceased persons is to restore their looks”.

To that end, she told Shin Min that to restore the looks of a deceased person, she has to pay close attention to details, including whether the deceased has had her nails polished or her hair dyed.

Fave was interviewed by the National Museum of Singapore as part of the exhibition "Picturing the Pandemic: A Visual Record of COVID-19 in Singapore", 8 March 2021

She performed the make-up for her mother’s funeral

Earlier this year, in March, Fave’s mother passed away from stomach cancer after a relapse. Before her death, her mother had hoped that her daughter would be the one who will perform the make-up for her.

Though devastated by the death of her mother, Fave remembered the promise that she has made to her mother.

On her right hand is a tattoo that bears a date. She told Shin Min that the tattoo is akin to a QR code and whenever she looks at it, she will remember all the reminders from her mother – that was her way of memorialising her mother.

A seven-month old baby funeral

Fave’s most unforgettable funeral was the funeral of a 7-month-old baby. The funeral arrangement had to be urgently conducted, and the family had requested that the setting and decorations be akin to that of a joyous occasion.

Despite that, she managed to liaise with the different suppliers and Fave was pleased that she could do her part in giving the baby a fitting send-off.

Another unforgettable funeral tool place not long after Fave had joined the industry. It was a suicide case and the deceased’s head was severely traumatised. Together with her team and after more than two days of hard work, she was able to restore the facial looks of the deceased.

Fave's interview with The Royal Singapore, 13 October 2021

Photo credit: The Royal Singapore

The road ahead

Fave also shared that due to the nature of her job, her relatives had requested that she do not visit them during Chinese New Year.

She told Shin Min that she was not particularly bothered by how others looked at her job, knowing full well that she is serving the deceased and she sees it as an act of charity.

She also said that that she finds it uncomfortable to speak to bereaved family members, but she will keep trying her best to finish what has been entrusted to her.

Wishing Fave all the best in her career as an embalmer, and may she find continued strength and courage to serve the dead, as well as the living.

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