Everything can be disassembled and framed in the Museum of Life

Attracting 200 million fans After 95, Linsey became a "disassembler and framer"

"Cold parts can also tell heart-warming stories", everyone may have an old thing that carries many memories, and inside the old thing is a part that keeps running. The post-95 girl Linxi disassembled different old objects so that those exquisite parts could be seen, "they are by no means broken copper and iron", behind which each person's own life experience is recorded.

"Disassemble and framer" is Linsey's professional name, she takes apart parts of old objects that people love, and then designs and frames. In this way, an old object becomes an installation in everyday life.

Since she began to work as a disassembler and framer in 2019, Linsey has attracted the attention of 200 million netizens, and after she disassembled and framed old things, such as the original iPhone designed by Jobs, Motorola's "Big Brother" in the 70s, Nokia's early mobile phone 3650, etc. In addition to common digital products such as mobile phones, cameras, and game consoles, Linsey also disassembles and frames unique objects full of life stories, such as award-winning scalpels, relics of elders, watches and rings that were once tokens of love... Linsey believes that machinery is not cold, and the emotional value it can carry is priceless.

Not long ago, Lin Xi said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily that as a "dismantling and framing", she is by no means a complete farewell to old things full of life memories, and she is not an "undertaker". When disassembling and framing parts one by one, Linsey hopes to create a unique "museum of life."

Turkish student + short video anchor + assistant director of Phoenix TV + British student

Encounter dismantling installation art and try to disassemble your old things

Linsey considers himself very "net-like" and has an intuition that is not clear. Since Linsey was in school, he has had a "sense of network".

Before becoming a "disassembler and framer", Lin Xi had a variety of identities, such as a student majoring in Turkish in Beiwai, a short video platform anchor, an assistant director of Phoenix Satellite TV, and a British student... Looking back on these experiences, Linsey lamented that he had established his plan early on that he did not want to look for a job in a company, "I wanted to be a travel blogger, to experience life, to do a freelance career."

From majoring in foreign languages to now hands-on disassembly and framing design, Linsey has no interdisciplinary feeling. "I studied science in high school, and then I took the foreign language major because I liked foreign languages, and I earned my first pot of gold when I was a short video blogger, so I also went to study in the UK to study journalism and communication. It was during my study abroad that I changed my mind. ”

During the summer of 2019, Lin Xi accidentally saw the museum's installation while visiting Japan. "The artist took an electric lamp apart and put all the parts together, which is very beautiful and very harmonious." After Linsey saw this work, the thought in his mind was "I can also give it a try".

Linsey started experimenting with his old things, found the old iPhone 4 phone and PSP game console, started against the teardown video on the Internet, and designed the layout smoothly. "I wanted to turn that idea into my hobby and turn it into a small business until I opened this studio now." Based on the previous fan base of travel bloggers, Linsey quickly aroused the interest of fans after releasing a video of dismantling and framing. She initially designed five typeset frames and posted them online, received more than 200 orders in a few days, and finally took half a year to complete the orders one by one.

At first, when Lin Xi began to take online orders, he was not familiar with the disassembly process of various mobile phones, and could only search for relevant videos on the Internet and learn step by step. Practice makes perfect, slowly, Linsey believes that dismantling is the simplest step in the whole process, "There are very detailed disassembly videos on the Internet, they will teach from scratch, what kind of tools to buy to disassemble." But it will not work only to disassemble, and the most difficult thing is the subsequent framing design. ”

Generally speaking, Linsey's disassembly and assembly starts from disassembling each part, discarding parts that affect the visual effect such as large batteries, and then keeping the beautiful parts in an ultrasonic machine for cleaning, and the most difficult step is how to "line up" and draw a design draft. "Put the parts on a blank piece of paper, put them in place, draw a sketch, take the sketch and put it on the computer to replicate the design, and then paste the parts to the base plate and frame it."

Today, Linsey has attracted 200 million followers, disassembling and framing hundreds of different phones, "although sometimes the same phone, but can have different typographic designs." In Linsey's framing design, there will be a more detailed part profile and related data, which requires her to understand the relevant industry knowledge and the history behind the machine. "For example, the iPhone 3G we disassembled, many people do not know that it was about 15 years ago that there was an Apple store from this mobile phone, and it laid a strong foundation for the iPhone 4 after that." Some orders will require disassembly, and some require the whole machine to be retained, only framed, such background knowledge is more important. ”

The original iPhone++ Nokia N97+

Android phone HTC G1+ original Motorola "big brother"

It was not the first person to disassemble and frame, but it became a large-scale industry

The old thing that Linsey most often disassembles is the mobile phone. The original iPhone, the Nokia 3650 mobile phone full of memories of the times, the long-discontinued Nokia N97, the first generation of mass-produced Android mobile phone HTC G1, and even the original Motorola "Big Brother" in the 70s of the last century were all disassembled and reborn in the hands of Linsey.

According to the order received, she found that the disassembly and framing of the mobile phone can divide customers into two categories: one is people who love science and technology, in awe of the development of mobile phone technology, there are many HTC mobile phones are to commemorate the beginning of Android mobile phones, many boys prefer to pay tribute to this technology, so when the exquisite parts are displayed one by one, you can see the innovation of technology; The other group of people pay attention to the experience when the mobile phone accompanies them, and want to preserve the past time. "This type of customer, in fact, whether they can disassemble the machine does not have much impact on them, we will ask them if they need to print some photos in the mobile phone on the bottom panel and frame, so that they do not have to turn the phone to see the pictures, and can also be placed at home like hanging pictures." Linsey explained.

In Linxi's online store, you can see the disassembly and framing costs of different price ranges, such as 598 yuan to 3000,10 yuan. After many designs, some mobile phones can follow the previous design template, which generally takes three days from disassembly to framing; If the customer needs a brand new design, it will take fifteen days to polish continuously. "At saturation, I can fulfill <> orders a month, but my design office now has three other designers who used to do repairs."

Since 2020, Linxi's design institute has 20 people, and the division between departments is very clear, including customer service, design, production, packaging, delivery, warehouse management, finance, short video operation and long video operation. "Old object framing is not a very new idea, many technology giants have posted their works on the Internet for a long time, although I am not the first person to do disassembly and framing at home and abroad, but I have made this a large-scale industry." Linsey preached.

In addition to disassembling the mobile phone, the order received by Lin Xi can be described as "strange", some people sent the SLR camera, some people sent the watch to do disassembly, and even some people sent expensive car models to request framing, these things from tens of dollars to hundreds of thousands of yuan, Lin Xi did not give up, "everything can be disassembled." "I used to dismantle mobile phones and game consoles very easily, and suddenly one day when I got the SLR that I sent, I was very stressed, for fear of dismantling them. I could only learn from scratch, but I couldn't find the disassembly video, so I had to go to the camera store and ask the master how to start. Linsey lamented that she recalled her initial framing experience as she could only "learn while doing" and "watch videos, read books and study the structure." For design, it is necessary to read relevant books to accumulate knowledge, not to mention to use design software to learn by yourself. ”

However, now Linsey has many professionals to help, and on the basis of the usual design, he has gradually played with new ideas. Once, when Linsey was disassembling the iPad, he suddenly thought about whether he could still have a picture on the disassembled screen. "The screen of the iPad is very complete, if you can make it light up will be more beautiful, you can continue to use it as a screen." Finally, we added a controller to the backplane, connected the computer, and it lit up. Before that, we'd already had ideas like making the unpacked Apple logo or icon on the back case of an alien computer glow. Linsey introduced.

Diamond ring + watch + surgical scissors

Machinery is not cold, and the emotional value it carries is priceless

Linsey is not simply mechanically disassembling the old things received, "cold parts can also tell heart-warming stories". She needs to communicate with customers to understand their needs and stories about the items.

In 2021, Linsey received an order to disassemble the watch, and the customer also sent a diamond ring at the same time. "I guessed it was about love, so I asked the customer what important experiences they had and how they wanted to feel. When I heard his story, I was immediately deeply moved. ”

In this customer's world, the object sent to Linsey is not just a watch, but a token of love with his late wife. For seven years, the couple went from newlywed Yaner to firewood, rice, oil and salt, but "the last time was like pressing the fast forward button", and he could only guard her bedside. When the marriage entered its 10th year, the man held the watch again, but the wife was no longer there. "This diamond ring was given by him to his wife, and this watch was given by his wife's mother's family... I finished the work almost the whole time, choked up. Linsey sighed. The customer also highlighted a particular request, he wanted to fix the time of the watch at 11:45, the time his wife died. Linsey thought of the design of the "tree of life" in the "Dead Sea Writings" in the Japanese manga and applied it to this work. "The watch is a very accurate symbol of life or the passage of time, which allows us to feel the disappearance of invisible time through the rotation of gears, and I use parts instead of leaves to piece together the 'tree of life'."

Linsey disassembled the parts of the watch one by one, stacking them layer by layer along the route of the tree of life, until the top layers finally converged, focusing on the ring, which is a "tree of life symbolizing love." "Every time I see it and think about it, it's like I'm pulled by a string. It reminds me to be pushed by life, to care for the people around me, to cherish some small luck, because these are the emotional belongings. ”

When trusted by guests to get such an item that cannot be measured by money, Linsey will feel the weight and admiration in her heart, which she thinks is a heavy but warm feeling. On the work of the tree of life, Linsey liked the above passage: "If a watch is not going correctly, then every second of it is wrong." But if the watch stops, it is accurate at least twice a day. Sometimes, a sober stay is better than a blind move. ”

A surgeon once sent Lin Xi a framed pair of surgical scissors, a professional surgical scissors made in Germany that was of high value. The scissors, the doctor's prize at a medical competition, had his name engraved on it, so he was reluctant to use them, hoping to frame them. "For him, the scissors are not only a symbol of honor, but also a significant part of his career." Linsey came up with the idea of designing on the theme of the Red Cross and Fibonacci spiral golden ratio graphics. "The Red Cross represents saving lives, the Fibonacci spiral is also known as the 'golden spiral', and the golden section shaped like a snail represents reason. The two are linked and echo each other. Linsey explained.

In Linsey's view, machinery is not cold, and the emotional value it can carry is priceless. She hopes that the memory is not dusted, but should be narrated, collected, and commemorated, because behind each work, there is a unique life memory of the protagonist.

Father's haircut tool + grandfather's medal + paragliding hook + fractured steel nails

By no means a "mortician", but a "time framer"

The "restoration" of old objects is also a common task for Linsey in the framing process. She once framed a Gundam figure, "worth a lot, but not in good shape". Linsey repainted, painted and routed the figure to "make it shine coolly in the frame."

Linsey is very careful with the items she sent, and she hopes to achieve perfect results when the final framing is carried out, all in order to give customers a better experience.

In 2021, customer Mr. Yu approached Lin Xi to frame his father's barber tools. When Mr. Yu was 18 years old, his father, who was in his 40s at the time, suddenly died of illness, which has since become a knot in Mr. Yu's heart, "His father has been a barber all his life, shaving, shaving, shaving, cutting hair, and even shaving the heads of children with a full moon." Each knife was polished by his father himself, and it was sharp and delicate. Mr. Yu told me that his father was self-taught, and at that time, he could receive invoices and exchange points for grain in the production team, and he was a very hard-working person. Although his father's foot was injured and a little lame, he still supported the family's income with his hands. Linsey narrated.

The son inherits his father's business, which is what Mr. Yu's father expects. But Mr. Yu became rebellious when he was young and did not want to learn, "he couldn't even wash his hair, and he wanted to go to the army and reserve military school." But the sudden death of his father made Mr. Yu change his mind. In recent years, Mr. Yu wanted to fulfill his father's last wish and decided to start learning the craft. "Dad must be very pleased to see himself today." Mr. Yu sighed.

After listening to Mr. Yu's story, Lin Xi decided to use only the most straightforward way to place the weather-beaten barber tools neatly in the display box. Mr. Yu expressed satisfaction and happiness after receiving it. "Sometimes I, as a listener, listen to others talk about their hidden emotions and memories, and somehow preserve them, which can be of great help to the narrator." Linsey preached.

Coincidentally, someone found Linsey with his grandfather's medals, honorary certificates, work cards and other relics. "His grandfather is an old judge who has worked hard all his life, and those things that have witnessed honor also confirm his grandfather's life, which is the best memorial and proof of his life." That time, Linsey still chose the most straightforward way to frame these old life objects.

Linsey also received an even more special life souvenir, an item sent by a paraglider. In an accident, the customer fell off the paraglider and fractured his bones due to the hook falling off. "Fortunately, it was just a broken bone, and it was not life-threatening." Linsey added that the customer wanted to frame the hook of the paraglider that had fallen off and the steel nails that had been pulled out of the bone after the fracture had healed. "On the one hand, it is used to alert oneself, this extreme sport should be more careful and prepare for everything, on the other hand, it is also a memorial to the aftermath of the disaster."

When confronted with the old objects of customers and the life stories behind them, Linsey believes that her job is "time framer", not "mortician" as some media claim.

"Funeral means burial and farewell, and my clients obviously have an emotional connection to old things, not to break with them, not to say goodbye to previous times and memories, but to record and commemorate, so that the moment of life or beauty or sadness becomes a visible and tangible thing." Linsey analyzed. She hopes that disassembly and framing can create a "museum of life" feeling - the moments of life are like a puzzle, every link and experience can be slowly pieced together, so that each part disassembled has an important meaning, and they all play a unique role.

Text/Reporter Han Shirong

Photo courtesy of Linsey

(Beijing Youth Daily)