Luling Jing（Dina）

Luling Jing (Dina) is an interior designer and product designer from china with a strong commitment to sustainable design.

Her design philosophy is based on a balance between practicality, aesthetics and sustainability. She believes that every product and space has a unique story and potential waiting to be unveiled through an innovative and sensitive approach to design.

She is the kind of designer who believes that design is a practice as well as a thought process. Her design journey is full of exploration and experimentation.

This project originates from my long-term research on the reutilization of discarded furniture. I firmly believe that each piece of abandoned furniture carries an untapped vitality and potential.

Within this initiative, I transform these discarded items into novel furniture pieces that amalgamate both artistic and functional value, all while preserving their original traces. This unique approach imbues each product with a distinctive historical charm.

The project aims to provoke a public awareness of environmental protection and the importance of reuse, advocating for the refurbishment and upgrading of old furniture as a substitution for the mindless consumption of new ones. I promote the idea of granting a second life to our furniture before we consider discarding them.

I hope that the process of revamping furniture fills people with enjoyment and challenges, fostering an emotional connection with the old items, and thus extending their lifespan. In essence, 'Renovating old furniture is as simple as building Lego blocks.'

The furniture given a new lease of life within this project originated from those I discovered in a recycling station near the 52 Ethelburga St, in the vicinity of the Royal College of Art Battersea campus. After a series of iterative restructuring experiments, I successfully breathed new life into these discarded pieces and wrote them a rebirth manual. If you too, possess such unwanted furniture, please consult the rebirth manual before discarding them.

The rebirth of the cot – I made this high back chair and lamp from an Ikea GULLIVER cot, the columns on the back can be used as a bookshelf or to measure the height of the child, e.g. "At 5 years old I have reached the 11th column".

52 Ethelburga St, London – I collect Ikea cots for the recycling bin.

A chair made from a cot bed board

I made this chair from an IKEA cot sheet, which retains the cut marks on the back of the chair and retains the original IKEA quality label, which is ridiculous and fun.

Bed board from Ikea GULLIVER cot.

Stool converted from a chair leg – I easily made a stool by combining the four chair legs of two chairs together. The top is decorated with cotton thread to give the impression that it is cotton thread that holds the chair together.

Discarded chairs

Side table converted from a chair back – I made a side table from the backs of two chairs and I slotted in the seats of the chairs so that they could be fixed to each other.

Convert a plant stand into a chair – I have made a chair out of a plant stand and the part that originally functioned as a retractable became the handle of the new chair.

Rebirth Handbook – I hope that the Rebirth handBook will give people a second chance to revive old furniture before they throw it away. It allows people to connect with the furniture and create more ways to transform it.

Luling Jing（Dina）

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Royal College of Art