Meet The Patoma™ Team
Nick Tomasi
John Patalano Jr.
John Patalano Jr.
Vice President - Co-Founder - Production
Nick brings experience as both a tradesman and a machinist to Patoma™ Music. Nick earned a patent for the invention of the "Patoma™ Pick" at age 17. Nick brings an inventive mind to Patoma™ Music. Nick also brings 15 years of guitar-playing experience to the team.
Favorite Pick: The Original: 1.5mm Black
John Patalano Jr.
John Patalano Jr.
John Patalano Jr.
President - Co-Founder - Business Operations, Marketing
John graduated from Quinnipiac University with a Bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management and a Master’s in Business Administration. He brings the marketing and sales strategies he learned to Patoma™ Music. John is a beginner to the guitar, striving to strum each day.
Favorite Pick: The Original: 1.0mm Blue
John Patalano Sr.
John Patalano Jr.
John Patalano Sr.
Co-Founder - Business Operations,
Sales
John brings over 30 years of business experience to Patoma™ Music. He was a successful multi-unit franchise owner in northern New Jersey. He brings strong leadership and a business mindset to Patoma™ Music. John also brings over 40 years of drumming experience to the team.
Favorite Pick: The Original: .88mm Green
Our Story and the Patoma™ pick
The Idea
Co-founder Nicholas Tomasi started playing guitar at the age of 7 years old. Over the years, he has collected over 30 guitars and plans to buy more. Nicholas had an inventive mind and was always thinking of ways of doing things better. As a teenager, Nick grew frustrated with his guitar picks slipping from his hands. He knew from other guitarists that if you took a knife, you could scratch up your picks for a better grip. One day his father, Mario, caught him slicing up some new guitar picks he had bought him. Mario made Nick stop and said, “Come on Nicholas, you're going to find a better way to do this,”. At the time, Mario worked in a small industrial diamond workshop. The shop excelled at making diamond-plated cutting wheels, which gave Nick an idea. Nicholas asked his dad if it would be possible to combine the diamond grip on the wheels with his guitar picks.
Bringing the Idea to Reality
This idea started them on a journey to creating this elusive Diamond Grip Guitar Pick. They first had to figure out if this idea was even possible and then how to create a process of making them. They tried all sorts of different pick materials, celluloid, acrylic, and nylon. The duo finally landed on Delrin® plastic as the best option. After this, they then had to figure out what material would help get the diamond to stick to the pick. The testing of different guitar picks and adhering processes took over a year. Nicholas with the help of Mario and many colleagues had finally done it. They had created the first ever Diamond Grip Guitar Pick.
At the age of 17, Nicholas went out and got the guitar pick, and the process patented. Nick and Mario began work on turning this product into a business. They came up with the name Grip Reaper Picks and began to gather a cult following with many people hoping one day to get their hands on the pick. After high school, Nicholas went to trade school and became a full-time plumber with Grip Reaper Picks becoming more of a side project.
New Life for the Diamond Grip Pick
John Patalano Jr., another co-founder, was good friends with Nicholas ever since they were in elementary school. He always kept tabs on how Grip Reaper Picks was going but decided that college was the direction he wanted to go. John graduated from Quinnipiac University with an MBA and a BA in Entrepreneurship. Grip Reaper Picks was pretty much dead with its social media account keeping it alive. Nicholas was working with his father at the industrial diamond shop until it closed. Around then, Nicholas and John got to talking about working together on a business. They decided that they would give the Diamond Grip Pick idea a real shot and attempt to bring it to market.
Establishing Patoma™ Music
From scratch, they developed the entire business from the ground up. Nick and John had to create a new identity for the brand and build out a production facility. They wanted the brand to reflect themselves and the uniqueness of the product in a new name. The name for the company the duo came up with was Patoma™, a combination of their last names (Patalano and Tomasi). Along with John's father, John Patalano Sr., they launched the company in November 2023. Patoma™ Music continues to grow with new pick offerings in differing shapes and sizes. With many more plans to grow in the future, the team is excited to continue this journey.
Gift Your Guitarist The Gift Of Grip
Need a gift for the guitarist in your life, look no further than the Patoma™ Pick. Our picks offer an extreme, world-class grip that no other pick can offer. The pick feels as if it's sticking to your fingers as you play. Be sure to check out all of our different shapes and thicknesses!