About Us
Harkness Screens™ is the world’s leading manufacturer of large projection screens
Our Business
Harkness Screens is the world’s leading manufacturer of large screens. Thousands of screens are supplied every year for cinema, film production, special effects, live events and custom AV applications. Founded in the 1920s, Harkness has screens in place in over 60 countries. With its corporate office located in Ireland, other offices and factories are located in UK, France, Beijing and Fredericksburg, VA. Harkness Screens combines unrivalled experience with the latest technology to provide innovative solutions to the company’s key markets worldwide. The group employs approximately 100 people in the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of its screens and related products.
Our History
From its humble beginnings in 1929, Harkness Screens has grown to employ 100 people spanning five countries. Harkness Screens has thousands of large screens installed in more than 50 countries throughout the world. Harkness serves the cinema, film production, special effects and live events markets. Harkness makes screens for 2D and 3D digital projection and for 35mm film projection, as well as screens for rear-projection. Harkness Screens also specializes in the production of custom made frames.
In 1929, Andrew Harkness first entered into the screen-manufacturing business with his 18-year-old son Tom.
During the early 1940s, Tom Harkness discovered plastic. A new material which seemed to possess all the properties required in an ideal screen, plastic still needed to be joined. Harkness developed and patented a revolutionary method of welding the plastic together called the Tearseal method. Where other manufacturers had failed to produce invisible seams, the Harkness Tearseal method produced a flat seam, and this made all the difference. The brand new Harkness Screens were a huge success.
In the early 1950s, screen perforations were incorporated into Harkness screens enabling behind-screen speaker placement, creating a whole new cinema experience.
Harkness’ greatest achievement was the development of the Perlux® coated screen that offered a brighter, more vivid presentation. This technology helped established Harkness as the world’s leading screen maker. Harkness Screens has used its knowledge of coating screens to produce the latest generation of Spectral™ ‘silver’ screens for the rapidly growing 3D cinema application.
Harkness Screens has an expanded technology resource developing new processes and products as well as making improvements to existing ones.
For more information, please contact a Harkness representative.
