Intuition, Hosiery, and Glass. A bit of background on AAOTE's Founder, CEO and CCO, Tari Zarka, also a Professional Flameworker, and Love-lifter

Flameworking glass is my real job and love-lift is my career.

Air, oxygen, propane, and I work together to meld raw glass materials into wearable works of art.

I fell in love with glass in the late 1990’s at Bucks County Community College, BCCC, auditing classes, entranced by open studios and morphing gathers, this creative beast found her glory.

We truly have furnace work to thank for sparking the flameworker that I am.

I wish to give love, to this day, Bucks County Community College continues to offer a wonderful glass program led by the super-gifted, Karl Carter!

Additionally, big respect to the world-renowned, glass-mecca-learning center, Salem County Community College, staff and students (former and present), their cumulative energy is a godsend to our expanding glass family.

I audited my furnacework glass classes at BCCC because I greatly enjoy learning on my own, and find the fumbling part of creative process to be a great teacher. This creative flow I harness thrives when I allow intuition to guide me to new crumbs of knowledge, and I allow for it to incubate in solitude.

I was intuitively guided to meld my passion for uplifting creative flow with my tenure in entrepreneurialism. July 1st, 2004, I put my all my faith in this vision, and AAOTE was born and on the books!

I have no formal training on the torch, not one class. However, big love to all who broke ancient Murano codes of lampworking secrecy and privacy to allow this once much younger spark to spend those blessed few hours as a fly on the wall in your studios. Big love to everyone involved with the Harmonyworks days! I truly appreciate the love and learning of our glass family and look forward to bright times as we continue to advance the love-lift the fires of creation can harness.

I grew up in my family’s business where we produced hosiery from bobbins on really cool knitting machines, customizing and privately labeling it. Highland Hosiery Mills, incorporated in the late 1960’s was originally producing pantihose for fashion. In the 1980’s, utilizing their ingenuity and custom machining skills, my family pivoted to create functional products for healing by way of short-order, prosthetic compression hosiery. We produced connection pieces and covers to assist the healing of those recovering from being amputated by increasing the comfort and wearability of new prosthesis.

To this day it’s an absolute honor to continue my family’s legacy of contributing to commerce customized, functional products for healing and love-lift.

I hope that if you’re resonating with this, you’ll keep tabs on my work to learn more of the wearable mindfulness tools (Fidget Widgets), healing water vibes jewelry (Beaches Collection), and aromatherapy jewelry and diffusers (AAOTE Aromatherapy) that I create and offer through retailers across North America, my own showroom in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (were we offer artisan-made gifts, housewares, home decor, and art by artists from across America), and online:

AAOTETZ.com

BTW long-time fans, please know this is AAOTE’s official new url. Please save it if interested.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more of my why and drive.

Peace.

Tari Zarka

Flameworker of TZ Glass

Founder, CEO, CCO of AAOTE

Love-lifter for life

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