diff --git a/src/lib/js/components/component.js b/src/lib/js/components/component.js
index d8237af..ec8deac 100644
--- a/src/lib/js/components/component.js
+++ b/src/lib/js/components/component.js
@@ -20,9 +20,10 @@ import { get, set } from '../common/utils/object.mjs'
 import { toTitleCase } from '../common/utils/string.mjs'
 
 export default class Component extends Data {
-  constructor(name, data = {}, render) {
-    super(name, { ...data, id: data.id || uuid() })
-    this.id = this.data.id
+  constructor(name, dataArg = {}, render) {
+    const data = { ...dataArg, id: dataArg.id || uuid() }
+    super(name, data)
+    this.id = data.id
     this.name = name
     this.config = Components[`${this.name}s`].config
     merge(this.config, data.config)
@@ -96,8 +97,9 @@ export default class Component extends Data {
    * @return  {Object} parent element
    */
   empty() {
-    const removed = this.children.map(child => child.remove())
-    this.data.children = this.data.children.filter(childId => removed.indexOf(childId) === -1)
+    const removed = this.children.map(child => {
+      child.remove()
+    })
     this.dom.classList.add('empty')
     return removed
   }
diff --git a/src/lib/js/components/data.js b/src/lib/js/components/data.js
index 4abda6a..1555716 100644
--- a/src/lib/js/components/data.js
+++ b/src/lib/js/components/data.js
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ export default class Data {
     const parent = this.get(delPath)
     if (Array.isArray(parent)) {
       parent.splice(Number(delItem), 1)
-    } else {
+    } else if (parent) {
       delete parent[delItem]
     }
     return parent
diff --git a/src/lib/js/components/index.js b/src/lib/js/components/index.js
index bc8e72b..25dc234 100644
--- a/src/lib/js/components/index.js
+++ b/src/lib/js/components/index.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import Data from './data.js'
-import { uuid, sessionStorage, isAddress } from '../common/utils/index.mjs'
+import { uuid, sessionStorage, isAddress, parseData, clone } from '../common/utils/index.mjs'
 import ControlsData from './controls/index.js'
 
 import StagesData from './stages/index.js'
@@ -16,15 +16,28 @@ export const Fields = FieldsData
 export const Controls = ControlsData
 export const Externals = ExternalsData
 
-const DEFAULT_DATA = {
+const defaultFormData = () => ({
   id: uuid(),
+  stages: { [uuid()]: {} },
+  rows: {},
+  columns: {},
+  fields: {},
+})
+
+const getFormData = (formData, useSessionStorage = false) => {
+  if (formData) {
+    return clone(parseData(formData))
+  }
+  if (useSessionStorage) {
+    return sessionStorage.get(SESSION_FORMDATA_KEY) || defaultFormData()
+  }
+
+  return defaultFormData()
 }
 
 export class Components extends Data {
-  constructor(opts) {
+  constructor() {
     super('components')
-    this.opts = opts
-    this.data = DEFAULT_DATA
     this.disableEvents = true
     this.stages = Stages
     this.rows = Rows
@@ -34,26 +47,18 @@ export class Components extends Data {
     this.externals = Externals
   }
 
-  sessionFormData = () => {
-    if (this.opts?.sessionStorage) {
-      return sessionStorage.get(SESSION_FORMDATA_KEY)
-    }
-  }
-
-  load = (formDataArg, opts = this.opts || Object.create(null)) => {
-    let formData = formDataArg
+  load = (formDataArg, opts) => {
     this.empty()
-    if (typeof formDataArg === 'string') {
-      formData = JSON.parse(formDataArg)
-    }
+    const formData = getFormData(formDataArg, opts.sessionStorage)
+
     this.opts = opts
-    const { stages = { [uuid()]: {} }, rows, columns, fields, id = uuid() } = { ...this.sessionFormData(), ...formData }
-    this.set('id', id)
-    this.add('stages', Stages.load(stages))
-    this.add('rows', Rows.load(rows))
-    this.add('columns', Columns.load(columns))
-    this.add('fields', Fields.load(fields))
-    this.add('externals', Externals.load(opts.external))
+
+    this.set('id', formData.id)
+    this.add('stages', Stages.load(formData.stages))
+    this.add('rows', Rows.load(formData.rows))
+    this.add('columns', Columns.load(formData.columns))
+    this.add('fields', Fields.load(formData.fields))
+    this.add('externals', Externals.load(this.opts.external))
 
     for (const stage of Object.values(this.get('stages'))) {
       stage.loadChildren()
diff --git a/src/lib/js/renderer.js b/src/lib/js/renderer.js
index d0704ae..d5b1489 100644
--- a/src/lib/js/renderer.js
+++ b/src/lib/js/renderer.js
@@ -1,18 +1,18 @@
 import isEqual from 'lodash/isEqual'
 import dom from './common/dom'
-import { uuid, isAddress, isExternalAddress, merge } from './common/utils'
+import { uuid, isAddress, isExternalAddress, merge, parseData, clone } from './common/utils/index.mjs'
 import { STAGE_CLASSNAME, UUID_REGEXP } from './constants'
 import { fetchDependencies } from './common/loaders'
-import { parseData } from './common/utils/index.mjs'
 
 const RENDER_PREFIX = 'f-'
 
+const cleanFormData = formData => (formData ? clone(parseData(formData)) : {})
 const containerLookup = container => (typeof container === 'string' ? document.querySelector(container) : container)
 const processOptions = ({ editorContainer, renderContainer, formData, ...opts }) => {
   const processedOptions = {
     renderContainer: containerLookup(renderContainer),
     editorContainer: containerLookup(editorContainer),
-    formData: parseData(formData) || {},
+    formData: cleanFormData(formData),
   }
 
   return { elements: {}, ...opts, ...processedOptions }
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ export default class FormeoRenderer {
   constructor(opts, formDataArg) {
     const { renderContainer, external, elements, formData } = processOptions(opts)
     this.container = renderContainer
-    this.form = parseData(formDataArg || formData)
+    this.form = cleanFormData(formDataArg || formData)
     this.external = external
     this.dom = dom
     this.components = Object.create(null)
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ export default class FormeoRenderer {
    * @param {Object} formData
    */
   render = (formData = this.form) => {
-    this.form = parseData(formData)
+    this.form = cleanFormData(formData)
 
     const renderCount = document.getElementsByClassName('formeo-render').length
     const config = {