John Betts wrote once in a letter about Ari T Hart:
“Ari T Hart began his career as a designer, engineer and metallurgist with the Dutch department of defense 30 years ago. A decade later he was employed by the international training center for photogrammetry after 20 years with I.T.C. He had a world-wide reputation as a man of considerable energy and talent. Many examples of his work are not only standards for industry, but are part of the permanent collections of the major museums of Europe. In 1980 he went on his own to begin making the reels and vises which rank among the best in the world.”
ARI T HART
FOREVER
History of Ari T Hart - Summary:
It's a shame, but I never met Ari T Hart in person. So, it's not up to me to want to or even be able to characterize Ari's personality. Instead I have translated an really interesting article from Dutch to English.
1. A summary about Ari T Hart
2. Video: Characters - Ari t Hart
3. Wanders visited Ari T Hart
4. Video: Sophisticated Reel Designer
Very few reels catch the eye like those of Dutch designer/engineer/artist Ari T Hart.
His reels are unique and represent a high degree of collectability and utility, due in part to top quality engineering and remarkable design work.
1. Rebelled against the status quo
2. Video: Interview in Norway
3. A Visit of Ari's workshop
De Volaren is a club consisting of ex-internationals and national coaches who have played and/or coached at a high level in the national teams of indoor, beach volleyball or sitting volleyball.
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On their website Geert Wijnhoven wrote an articel about Ari T Hart. I translated this articel from Dutch to English and make it available.
Over the years and during the various production an company periods for series products, Ari T Hart has also always created special one-offs and small series. Be it for close friends or fly fishing shops or on behalf of special occasions. Even for an inveterate collector it is not possible to get even remotely an exact overview. Again and again special objects, rare color variants and individual pieces appear or a collector reports about them in one or the other forum. But this is exactly what makes it so appealing for us enthusiasts and collectors.
ATH Design Holland [1982 until 1995]
ARI T HART International B.V. [1996 until 2003]
Luctor ARI T HART Ltd. [2003 until 2010]
Exclusive Reels Ltd [2007 until 2016?]
Ari T Hart - Fly reel Designer
Ari thinks for a moment. Would he have liked his job less if he had been 'inside'? If he hadn't let himself be cheated by all kinds of business 'friends'? No! He is angry with them. And he regrets not having listened more closely to his wife Astrid's intuition when it comes to this subject. “He always said those people were no good.” But in the end, he's just happy to be doing the things he likes to do. In fact, he is still the boy who came from the Leiden Instrumentmakers School and who loved to devise and put together something very precisely. Technique and design are Ari's passion and life. And for those who still doubted it, Astrid adds: “He's a genius”.
"I have also hired someone on a number of occasions to look after my business interests. But unfortunately I have always made the wrong choice. As a result, in the 1970s I almost went bankrupt by a hair's breadth. And I still have to work at my age. Because I was not able to provide for a pension."
In an interview series "De Nederlandse Vliegenvisser" (the Dutch fly fishermen), Hans Bock, who runs a fly fishing school in Zuiden (Holland), also visited and interviewed Ari T Hart.
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On his website "hooked-on-flyfishing.com" you could find it.
I translated the both articel from Dutch to English and make it available.
Whatever really happened in the company transfers I don't know in detail. My impression is that it never came in fair form for Ari T Hart. This is tragic and very sad.
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Since there are always misunderstandings and misjudgments in this context, I have put together some information for clarification.
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It is clear that no 'reel' collector of Ari T Hart items will include any of these reels in his collection.
