Nabila Nasir: The furniture saviour turning discarded pieces into stories

FROM humanitarian work to heritage storytelling, one Malaysian woman is rescuing furniture and giving it a second life

For 17 years, Nabila Nasir worked internationally in development and humanitarian fields.

She saw communities, cultures and how people live. But when she returned to Malaysia, she faced a very personal problem: how to furnish 3,800 sq ft of space with furniture that had character.

She couldn’t find the furniture she was looking for, so she started making it herself.

"I think I’ve always been a bit ridiculous about old furniture.

"I went to my mum’s house once and saw these two chairs just sitting there looking completely defeated. The frames were actually still really good, but the springs had died, the fabric was torn and they looked exhausted. My mum said, very casually, 'Those chairs are older than you.' And I was like, exactly. They’ve made it this far. We are not giving up on them now.

"Then there was the sofa. Someone in my condo had dumped this absolutely tragic sofa frame at the recycling area. No seats, no cushions, stripped bare, battered, honestly quite horrible-looking. My husband looked at it and said, 'That is rubbish.' I said, 'No. That is GOLD.'

"He disagreed. I ignored him. And then I made him drag this giant piece of 'rubbish' all the way back up to our unit.

"That’s basically how my brain works. Other people see something old, broken or finished. I’m already mentally choosing the fabric," explained Nabila about how it all started.

That’s where the idea for her studio was born. Nabila began noticing how much perfectly usable furniture was being thrown away. Instead of seeing something old, she saw something waiting to be transformed. A new fabric. A new colour. A new story.

This became one of the foundations of her new venture: seeing potential in what others discard. She has since conjured Merite Design Studio, a maximalist interior styling and design atelier rooted in individuality, storytelling, and sustainable living.

The studio’s philosophy is simple: Design should have personality. Sustainability should not mean sacrificing joy.Through refurbishment, bold colour, textiles and craftsmanship, Nabila and her team take tired, everyday pieces and reimagine them.

Cabinets from renowned furniture brands become hand-painted statement pieces. Chairs get reupholstered in mixed prints. Discarded cabinets are turned into art — like Marcellus, an octopus cabinet with sculptural tentacle handles that was featured at (Malaysian International Furniture Fair) MIFF 2025 and on the front cover of a Malaysian newspaper.

Nabila didn’t set out to become a designer. Design found its way in. Her 17 years in humanitarian work shaped how she understands people and communities. Now she applies that same care to homes and spaces.

Now through Merite, Nabila delivers end-to-end interior styling for residential and commercial clients, plus bespoke furniture renewal, curated collections, and art advisory.The 2,000 sq ft 10 Semantan showroom is a living gallery of this ethos — refurbished furniture, murals, custom wallpapers, all styled to tell a story.

Today, Nabila is building Merite as a distinctly Malaysian design studio centred on colour, storytelling, sustainability and reinvention. Her work has been featured in some popular media titles including Kagu Shimbun in Japan.

Nabila isn’t just styling interiors. She’s rescuing them.In a world of fast furniture and throwaway culture, she’s proving that what we discard still has value. With a brush, new fabric, and a story to tell, she gives furniture — and the people who live with it — a second chapter.As she puts it: rather than waste, choose joy. Rather than replace, reinvent.