THE PROCESSWhen old barns reach the end of their functional lives they are often viewed as eyesores and are demolished, buried, or burned to make way for new land uses. Roger Dinger, through his Reinbarnation business, locates and identifies old barns slated for removal and obtains permission to reclaim the wood. The past life of each barn is honored prior to deconstruction. The building and grounds are explored, photographs are taken, and the owner’s knowledge of the barn’s past is recorded. Roger personally deconstructs the barns one board at a time, removes and saves the rusty old nails, brushes off the dust, and transports the reclaimed lumber to his shop near Siler City, NC. There the wood is sorted and stacked in dry storage bins until it is chosen to become a piece of furniture or art. 
Barns are some of the few structures around where untreated wood is placed in direct sunlight with wind and rain affecting it for 100 years or more. The result of this time and weathering is a beautiful, character-rich patina that varies in texture and color from silver, to black, to gold, to every imaginable shade of gray.In designing and constructing his art, Roger strives to use and preserve the natural, weathered character of the wood. Planing and oiling are typically limited to board backs and table tops. The function and aesthetic result follow the form of the wood chosen. Each piece of Reinbarnation furniture is unique in its conception, design and appearance.  BIORoger Dinger grew up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, attended and was graduated from the University of Virginia, and moved to North Carolina in 1976. After a five-year career in outdoor sports education, he found a new calling in land surveying. During the next twenty-four years Roger became a Professional Land Surveyor and partner in a Greensboro engineering/surveying firm. He reclaimed his first barn in 1992 and began designing and building barn wood furniture and picture frames. In 2003 he moved to Chatham County and hand-built the barn where his studio is presently located. Roger Dinger created Reinbarnation in January 2007 and now works full time in his home-based woodworking art business. 
ARTIST STATEMENT“I see beauty and functional potential in old barn wood. Part of my artistic niche is an appreciation and preservation of the time-weathered, history- imbued patina of very old barn wood. My furniture is designed and constructed to be used; it is not just art, it is functional. Barn wood is a good match for people with a comfortable and informal lifestyle. I also feel good about creating something new and useful out of a material that would otherwise be burned or taken to a landfill. Time has been working for me: sun, wind, rain and snow have affected the wood for many years. With Reinbarnation, it’s almost as if I were capturing time.”  Read about Roger in an article by Diane Daniel in the Raleigh News and Observer. (Reprinted with permission of the author.) HOME · ABOUT · GALLERY · EXHIBITS · BARN HISTORIES · CONTACT |