Greg Harkins Woodworks

Greg Harkins is a Chairmaker who uses work techniques passed down from the mid 1800's. He has made chairs for 20 years, three of these as an apprentice under a Master Chairmaker. Greg is a graduate of Mississippi State University with a B.S. in Psychology. He is a Member and sits on the Board of Directors for the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi. In addition, he is a member of the American Craft Council and the Louisiana Craft Council.

Greg has preserved a once dying craft by hand turning parts and using techniques to make extremely durable and fine quality chairs. Each piece is dated and hand signed by Greg and guaranteed for life. Greg hand picks each tree for lumber sawed to his specifications to make chair parts. Each chair takes approximately 25 hours to make. The backs and bottoms of each chair are also woven by hand.

This year Greg is also working on a new line of "Natural" furniture made from hickory trees and branches which are selected for their particular shapes and burls. Each piece is hand-stripped and chair bottoms are hand woven from the bark from the same tree. This can only be done in the spring time when the sap is rising. Consequently, large amounts of time is spent in the woods collecting materials to last the entire year.

Greg is world renown for his craft. His creations are in 20 countries and in the homes of many famous people such as President Bill Clinton: Former Presidents George Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter; Former Vice President Dan Quayle, Paul Harvey, Bob Hope, George Burns, Pope John Paul II, John Glenn, and many others. In addition, his famous "Plantation Rocker" was presented to all the Southern Governors at the Southeastern Governor's Conference in 1990.