Tidal ArtWorks - Dede
About me
My name is Davide but everyone knows me as “Dede”.
I'm a guy like many others, grown up in the countryside between football matches, dives into the river, a lot of videogames, some “lil' disasters” and several flings. It may seems a sentence from an old man but: “at those times Internet not even exists”.
I can proudly say that my generation has grown along with the network, in the roaring 90s!
Among things characterizing me, besides my natural passion for tech and computer science, there is definitely music! Techno and electro above all. To complete this picture there is also my artistic side… over the years I have increased more and more my general interest for art and design. I love traveling just to see all those wonderful masterpieces that the world has to offer!
Here you can find a x step recap of my life:
TL;DR
Hello, world!
Everything started 30 years ago. In those warm summer nights Italy won the World Cup and I somehow took part in our victory!
September 1982The primary school
My long course of studies began. Fortunately, my parents enrolled me in a primary school whose agenda included English and computer science (which was not so obvious at that time)!
In the meanwhile somebody special was born =)
Macintosh Classic
Here we are, my first computer entered our house! Imagine my surprise while turning on that Macintosh Classic and its GUI. At most I had seen things like DOS and textual interfaces, instead it featured a mouse and windows! In addition there was Hyper Card so, unknowingly, I started programming very simple games and applications.
October 1991A.K.A. “Dede”
Maybe for fun or most likely by mistake a classmate began to call me “Dede”. It sounded good and everyone started to call me so… in hindsight I must say she has a perfect timing because just a year after I found myself in a class with another guy who had my same name and surname! Fortunately I was known as “Dede” and not only as “Davide”.
September 1992Macintosh LCII
Time for gifts, my first B/W Macintosh Classic was replaced by a new LCII with 256 colors! Awesome games arrived: Sim City, Escape Velocity and Alone in the Dark among them. Again anticipating what would come later, I did not feel satisfied by that experience and then, thanks to ResEdit, I enjoyed disassembling and rebuilding games, adding levels, new graphics, goals, etc.
Winter 1993Electronic music
Although I started the year before to assiduously listen to the radio, it was at the beginning of 1995 that I fell in love with it. Initially there was only dance music from Deejay Time! Every night I went to bed listening to songs like Wonder, Nowhere Land and Happy to Be. Then Robert Miles arrived with Children and I discovered what progressive house music was!
February 1995As long as the ship goes…
My baptism of the sea! Thanks to my dear aunt I started to love cruises (in that occasion we sailed to ancient Greece). I liked it so much that later on I did it again visiting many other parts of the world including: Africa, the Canary Islands, the Middle East, UAE, etc.
April 1995Into the net!
My dad gave me a strange milk box which actually carried on some instructions and a floppy disk. It was the packaging of the R.C.M., our first attempt to connect to a computer network. It was nothing more that a shared file server but, at least for me, it was a big step ahead!
July 1995Let's fly
Although I had already traveled a lot, that year I catch a plane for the first time! I still remember, it was a 747 by KLM, destination: Schiphol Airport - Amsterdam.
August 1996High school
Following my inclination for maths I chose to enroll in high school. Thus began those years of independence, my first girlfriends, scooter, real friends, etc.
September 1996Mixer & vinyls
My brother bought a mixer and two Numark turntables. Despite I hadn't got much money for me I spent a fortune to buy vinyls and start mixing! How many afternoons I spent trying to keep Komodo, 999, Techno Armony and all the other songs in time, occasionally putting in the awesome Ghostbusters' Theme!
October 1999The Tidal brand
It's not so clear how (starting from the name “Dede” altering it into “Tide” and then to other absurd words) “Tidal” came out, the fact is that starting with the new millennium I began to brand all my works with it! Initially I made only compilations for myself but I think that this mark will remain forever.
Around year 2000The university
Archived my high school's exams I was a free guy during that summer but September arrived… I passed the entrance exams and I found myself at the university: Politecnico di Milano - V dept, computer engineering.
September 2001Bienvenidos a Eivissa
The afternoon before: 30 cum laude in Computer Science, the next day I was at Ibiza airport! It was my first holiday into La Isla Blanca and it was love at first sight. Since then I returned many times to this paradise that is one of my favorite destinations.
July 2002Designer for passion, by chance
I started to draw simple sketches for me then I learned vector graphics, I enjoyed it and also other people liked my works! In a short time I found myself making brochures, websites, logos and graphics in general for me and for other people. Tidal was no longer restricted to music but gained the ArtWorks suffix.
Starting from 2003Bachelor's degree
Years passed by and my exploits didn't affect my studies. I still remember when my mom told me: “I do not know how you can come back home at 5 A.M. and then study for exams”. To be honest me too… It was just so and during that summer I got my fair 110/110!
Summer 2004Today is tomorrow
After watching the live show on German TV I put together a dozen friends and we all went together to the Street Parade in Zurich. Wow, showtime! The 2005 edition was probably the most successful and among those million and a half people we were there! Needless to say that we did it again in '06, '07 and so on.
August 2005The Far East
Unexpectedly (like many other times) my aunt asked me to follow her in a trip to Thailand and Myanmar. Clearly I did not refuse! I was really impressed by these cultures so different from ours, and my desire to discover new things grew even more. At that time I found myself in the farthest place from home ever visited in my entire life.
October 2005Two halves of an apple
A wonderful girl entered my life! Finally someone put a little order in what was the most messed-up part of my existence (especially in the last period). The most strange thing, which is often hard to believe, is that our families already knew each other very well, without affecting our choice in no way! This helped a lot what came after, avoiding the classic: "are you ready to meet my family"?
Summer 2007The thesis
Like the first round also the specialization came to an end. The thesis absorbed me alot but thanks to my colleagues I really learned from it! At the end I was not able to rehash what I obtained in the three-year cycle and, despite I got the highest evaluation for my thesis, I stopped at 103 (due to several not-so-perfect exams during the course of the studies)!
December 2007A job… returning to the origins
I began working immediately after graduation and for the first time in my life I had a true economic independence! Using my first salary I bought a MacBook Pro and embraced again Apple after a decade of Windows PC! Since then I never looked back and probably my artistic vein thanks me again.
January 2008State exams
To complete my school career, while working, I studied for the qualification exam to become a licensed engineer. During the autumn of the same year I passed it with a valuation of 94/100. At that point I had everything to consider my school life ended with success!
September 2008United States of America
For equality, after visiting the far and the Middle East, in that year I went to the States! New York with its excesses was a wonderful discovery! I must admit that after all these voyages it is always delightful to come home and appreciate, maybe in a different way, our Bel Paese.
May 2011App development
Several iPhones joined my Mac so, as a matter of course, I began to develop my apps. Some of these deserved to be shared and gradually I published them on the App Store. Even now I try to mantain them as well as create new ones, but I have no time for this (I apologize in advance)!
Summer 2012Not only for hobby
My love for design brought me real occasional jobs! Often they arrived by chance but I didn't miss them… I like new challenges and certainly I want to grow even more. This led me even in my true job to manage aesthetics details and product design (regarding both physical and virtual objects).
From 2013 (and possibly earlier)My home
As if that was not enough it is now time to renovate our future house (after all we are mama's boy, no?) and therefore could I miss the chance to design every single detail? Nooooo, then as Elena would say: “full steam ahead”!
Winter 2014