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Article: Seated According to Protocol; Search for Perfect NATO Table Took Months, $70,000
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 23, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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A table.
How complicated and costly can the humblest piece of furniture
get?
Very -- as organizers of this week's 50th anniversary NATO summit
discovered. But after months of discussion and planning to meet the
demands of protocol, aesthetics, available space and ease of
assembly, they believe they have created the perfect table.
It is big. It is the biggest thing that cabinetmaker Mark Wilson,
35, has ever built, he said, "other than a house."
Weighing somewhere around 3,000 pounds, the five-sided table made
by the Lanham firm Hargrove Inc. measures 145 feet around and
stretches 48 feet across at one point.
It also is not cheap. Made of birch plywood, laminated with
mahogany-colored ...