Invisible Labor Research

The chairs were manufactured in Indonesia in November 1997. A surviving inspection card identifies the model as Flamboyan and records quality-control sign-offs for filler work, sanding, and finishing. Although produced on an industrial scale, disassembly revealed evidence of hand construction throughout. Variations in dimensions, staple placement, glue application, and upholstery work differed from chair to chair.

Five chairs from the same set carried five different signatures concealed beneath the upholstery: Wall, Yati, Hartini, Din & BG, and Ngad. None of these marks were visible during the chairs' service life. Hidden beneath layers of leather, foam, and fabric, they survived only because the chairs were carefully deconstructed.

Based on the names, the workforce appears to have included both men and women. Five chairs carrying five different signatures suggest a factory of considerable size with an organized production process and division of labor. Some handprints preserved in the glue were exceptionally small, suggesting the work may have been performed by petite women or children.

The chairs also preserve evidence of resourceful manufacturing. Bicycle and scooter inner tubes were repurposed as elastic support elements. Woven polypropylene sacks from Pita Merah wheat flour, produced by PT Sriboga Flour Mill, were incorporated into the upholstery structure.

The chairs reveal a contradiction between industrial production and individual labor. Designed and sold as identical products, each chair preserves traces of a different maker. What appeared to be a single anonymous product was, in fact, the work of individuals whose contribution remained invisible to the user.