A Russian souvenir factory crafted a giant wooden spoon for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to help him during the financial crisis.

[Vladimir Vasiliyev, Factory Director]:
"There are always people, especially in times of crisis, who need to be taught a lesson. So the spoon can be used for this purpose as well, not only to get the best piece of meat.”

The spoon weighs 15 kilos and is the biggest spoon that the Khokhloma craft factory has ever produced. The factory decided to offer it to Medvedev because in traditional Russian fairy tales, the head of the family always eats with the biggest spoon.
 
[Vladimir Vasiliyev, Factory Director]:
"There are attributes of power, like the staff, the crown and the orb. We've decided to make a typical village present for the head of the family and we want to give it to our president, who we consider the head of our country. In the village, the spoon has many functions: it can be used as an educational tool for example. The spoon is a highly-respected object, because with it you can pick the best piece of meat or you can hit somebody on the forehead to punish them."

One of the factory's best wood-cutters carefully selected a log of aspen big and strong enough for the presidential spoon.

[Nikolai Baranov, Wood-Cutter]:
"The handle should be thick, because the spoon's bowl is big and they should fit together."

The final product is a 2.4 meter spoon with a bowl that can hold up to two buckets of water. After the spoon was carved, it was primed with clay mortar and coated with raw linseed oil and tin powder. Women then painted the spoon in the traditional black, red and gold colors. The spoon was then hardened in a kiln at high temperature.
   
Khokhloma is a traditional Russian handcraft which can be traced back to the 17th century. Traditional Khokhloma tableware consists of spoons and bowls made of birch, maple or aspen, that are painted in black, red and gold.

Khokhloma tableware has become very popular as souvenirs.