Turin, end of November 2009 on a Saturday afternoon - we meet Tumitu, the winner of the IULM Pitch, and his lovely family in a cozy antique coffee shop. We order a cup of bicerin, traditional Piedmontese coffee drink, and the conversation starts…

BootB: Please, tell us more about yourself and your bivalent nature - Tumitu the BootB butterfly and Mr. Palange the official.
Tumitu: It is definitely not easy to conciliate the Creator with the company official. All day long at work I am immersed in numbers, spreadsheets and PPT slides – and that leaves little room for Creativity. However, after work I turn to my creative side – I put on my sleepers, jeans and T-shirt and midnight finds me in front of my PC tackling creative challenges.

When did you discover you have a deep passion for creativity?
I was quite young actually. At about 16 years old I had my first PC and I run into this software called CorelDRAW. I started to study it and little by little I discovered I had a gift. During university I had the opportunity to practice my talent and that had triggered my passion for graphics. Therefore I’ve kept myself in the know with the latest graphic design softwares.

How do you cultivate your passion? Speaking of which tell us more about Tumitu.com…
Well, for the last couple of years I have been cultivating my passion for Creativity every day! I must admit that work has been taking most of my time but ever since Internet is around I can balance things easier. I’ve discovered new interesting tools to cultivate my passion and to keep myself updated - like Flikr or Delicious.

Tumitu.com is of course a tribute of my dedication to Creativity. It’s a way of capitalizing on my own abilities and allowing other creativity lovers to express themselves.

How did you come across BootB and why did you stop and join our republic?
I heard about BootB by chance, reading a comment related to one of your Pitches on a forum. It sparked my interest immediately because such a platform gives me the opportunity to take advantage of my talent not only emotionally but economically – since I work in a totally different sector. I must say I have subscribed for other similar websites but BootB remains the most institutional of all. Moreover it opens high level Pitches that implicitly bring along stronger incentives.

On the basis of which criteria are you choosing briefs? What determined you to participate in the IULM pitch?
Initially I was only participating in those briefs that had something to do with my vocation – graphical design, logo, brand identity. However after a while I’ve started to take part in many others. It is difficult to stay away when there are so many interesting BootB pitches out there.

Apart from corresponding to my initial criteria, IULM raised my interest because it was posted by an Italian institution and I wanted to contribute to its success. Last but not least the budget was quite attractive :) To be honest the budget is the cardinal element driving participation.

In how many pitches have you participated so far?
Around 10. Lately I take part in most of the pitches, especially after winning :)

The winning logo you have submitted has a very symmetric look. Where did you find inspiration and did you get influenced by your every day job in any way when designing it?
My work had nothing to do with the Solution submitted. The inspiration came from the brief itself – IULM was asking for a flexible and symbolic logo representative for Italy while appropriate for international use. The first thing that crossed my mind was the Italian architecture dominated by arcades (see the Colosseum). So I started from a series of curved lines and rectangles and I could almost say that the logo came out on its own.

What do you think was the key success factor of your solution?
The right answer for this is - I don’t know. I am not aware of who were my competitors and I don’t have any reference parameters. I guess I was able to read the mind of the client, to give a good interpretation of the Brief and that was central to winning.

Do you have any precious advice for the rest of the creators dreaming about turning into butterflies?
First, I would advice them to optimize the self expression of their Creativity. Second, to stay updated with the latest trends and to follow closely the professionals. There is always a lot to learn from the best in branch. Coupling that with their style and competencies results in a whole new dimension of creativity.

We have noticed that you are a very active BootB citizen. Thank you for that. Are you a fan of social media in general?
Yes, I am quite active on Flickr as I am a passionate of photography and this platform allows me to share my work. Delicious is a good way to relate to people sharing the same interest and of course I use Facebook to connect with my friends.

Rumor has it that you describe yourself as an eclectic individual. Why is that?
True, I do define myself using this term and it applies to all aspects of my life. I am always mixing a bit of everything and generating something new. I did that in my professional life and I keep doing it in the creativity field, which remains a hobby for me. I try to do a bit of everything – graphics, design, photography and painting – hoping that I do it well.

What do you like to do in your free time?
I am a daddy and that takes most of my spare time :) When my son fells asleep I still have the energy to dedicate a couple of hours to graphics.

If you were to pick your job again would you go for the same choice?
Hum, nice question! All the major decision that I have taken so far were very well weighted. When choosing my career I went for the safest bet in terms of future income as I was aiming at assuring a secure and stable financial situation for my family. I am happy with my current status so probably, for this reason, I would go for the same career track again. I think I will always live with the doubt: if I were to go back in time would I choose creativity as a job?!

Do you think creativity as a job could get altered?
I wouldn’t say that creativity as a main occupation would get affected. What I can tell you for sure is that practicing it the way I do, as a hobby – being able to choose the projects I like best – it definitely brings a higher emotional return.

We’ve saved the most difficult question for the end of the interview. What will you ask to Santa Clause this Christmas seeing that you’ve already won a BootB pitch?
Santa will have to help me win many more pitches, especially those with budgets superior to 10,000 USD. Actually I am just about to send him my letter :)

Thank you so much for your time. We can change roles now - do you have any questions for BootB?
I thank you; it was a pleasure talking to you. I have a suggestion rather than a question for BootB: the platform is great but it could use a bit more of interactivity between Brands and Creators. It is hard for us to live only with comments.

We have a lot of platform improvements on our road map for 2010 and your point is being taken care of!


January 2010 – it looks like Santa was all ears when Tumitu made his Christmas wish! He has won another Pitch – Lampo: Innovation Made in Italy. Let’s see how he feels…

What a great way to start the New Year: 2nd Pitch won and the 3rd position in the Top 150 BootB Creators! What’s next?
Indeed - it’s just the right way to begin! However I intend to take advantage of all the opportunities BootB opens to us every day. Now that I got the taste for it I want to win again and again :) Therefore I am going the extra mile to participate in all BootB pitches.

Regarding the 3rd position in Top 150 – I am much honored, especially since I know there are many great Creators in the BootB Republic. I am really enthusiastic to be one of them and I am looking forward to sharing many more experiences – and why not collaborating with some to solve future creative challenges.

My compliments to BootB, I find it the best creativity platform for both Brands and Creators!