Kayden DiGiovanni

 I began tattooing myself and my friends with a needle and a bottle of India ink stolen from art class at the age of 10.  I was the kid who drew pictures all of the time, so when we decided that we needed tattoos, I was voted in to be the one to figure out how to do it.  Not long after that one of my dads friends explained to me how he used a safety pin to tattoo the letter "T" on his forearm when he was a kid.  Game on.

         I continued to draw and do hand poked tattoos until at the age of 16, at my first job, one of the delivery drivers traded me the knowledge of how to build a homemade tattoo machine in trade for me doing a grim reaper on his chest.  From that point on I began building home made machines regularly, always trying to make them better.

         When I was 19 I went to the Skin Art Gallery in Arlington, expecting that they would be open at 9AM for some crazy reason.  When no one was there, I wrote a note explaining that I desperately wanted an apprenticeship, and covered the paper with my best skulls.  Its amazing to me, knowing what I know now, that they actually called me back.  I was sent to the Skin Art Gallery in Addison, where I was interviewed and accepted as an apprentice.  However when it was explained that I would be working 60 hours a week for 1 year with no pay, I had to decline the offer.  I wanted it more than anything, but I had just moved out on my own and needed a paycheck.

          At the age of 21 I was in a band called Krommodon, the band leader Steve had handed the reigns of The Pit Bulls Mosh Association to Dave, and I began helping Dave with his early seedling of marketing ideas.  Building flyers that we hoped would be a newsletter one day, trying to put together a website and always talking to other local bands.  In that process I met my all time favorite local band Me-At-Us.  Their singer Sean gave me my first "Professional" tattoo machine.

          Finally at the age of 27 I found myself in an apprenticeship at Tantalizing Tattoo in Arlington.  I stayed there for 6 years, then moved to the shop that I had always wanted to work at as a kid, The Skin Art Gallery in Addison.  I worked at  The Skin Art Gallery for another 5 years before opening my own Tattoo Studio, Dallas Tattoo, in June of 2013.  In June of 2015 I sold Dallas Tattoo, and moved to Denver CO, to work for Fallen Owl Tattoo.