Innovative former livestreamer assembles striking pieces of electronics art

Lin Xi, a 26-year-old entrepreneur engaged in electronic disassembly art has proved with her experience that no effort is in vain.

Lin's work is to tear apart used electronic products, such as phones, tablets, game consoles and computers, and then present the components in an artistic way.

"After being reassembled, the once dust-laden items will become exhibition pieces that remind the owners of their childhood experience, a period of hard work or a deep-rooted memory," she says.

Lin gained her popularity on short-video platform Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

In 2020, she posted two videos introducing an iPhone 4 and a Play-Station Portable (PSP) console that she had disassembled.

Through her videos, many people realized, for the first time, that idle, but classic, electronic products can be framed like art.

People were also attracted by the smiling girl, who wore an apron, a pair of rimmed glasses and talked them through the process.

"The two videos quickly received more than 10,000 likes and then nearly 200 orders poured in, most of which were for the disassembly artworks of the iPhone 4 and PSP," Lin recalled.

Electronic disassembly is intricate work that needs both a delicate touch and aesthetic sensibility.

Lin has to check the condition of the items she receives, and she communicates with her customers to learn the stories behind each one and the type of presentation they prefer.

Then comes the disassembly."It's like performing surgery on digital products, with different types of screwdrivers and tweezers," Lin explains.

The components, after being carefully cleaned, will be laid out on a piece of white paper in the desired order.

The final step is to use graphics software to draw and print a base plate based on that layout and affix the components to it.

It took Lin around half a year to fulfill the initial batch of orders, but, as she continued to post new videos, orders kept coming.

In late 2020, she had to hire some helpers and opened a business in Weifang, Shandong province, to grasp the opportunity.

Now her company, with more than 10 employees, has an annual turnover of more than 3 million yuan ($446,500).

However, it was not luck that brought Lin her current success.

She first tried her hand at livestreaming in 2017 as a performer singing popular songs on Douyin. At the time she was a senior at Beijing Foreign Studies University majoring in Turkish and international journalism.

Being talkative with a natural on-camera demeanor, she quickly attracted more than 400,000 followers, earning more than 1,000 yuan a day from digital gifts and rewards. Most other college students at the time were only earning 150 yuan a day from their part-time jobs.