Harkins participates in partnership program with Russian craftsman

The program, organized by the United States Information Agency, grew out of an agreement between President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin during their April 1993 summit meeting in Vancouver, Canada.

This May, 10 groups of Russian entrepreneurs arrived in the U.S. to learn more about the free market economy. One group, consisting of 23 businessmen, was based in Jackson. The Mississippi Consortium for International Trade placed them with numerous small businesses in the Jackson vicinity.

One of the individuals, Dmitri Golikov, worked with Harkins to design and build a settee of all natural materials. In Russia, Golikov runs a table manufacturing business.

The settee was constructed of peeled hickory limbs, and strips of hickory bark were used to weave the seat. The joints were pegged and wedged with wood, and no metal was used in the construction. Golikov referred to the finished work as "exquisite joinery."

The finished product was presented by Harkins to the Deputy Ambassador to the Soviet Union at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C. The piece was then presented by Golikov and Harkins to the U.S. Information Agency. It will be used to raise funds in support of a scholarship to enable other Russians to come to the U.S. to learn more about the free enterprise system.

Harkins, who owns Harkins Woodworks in Vaughan, has built rocking chairs for the last four U.S. presidents, as well as for 23 governors. He also has presented rocking chairs to congressmen, senators, and other U.S. dignitaries.