Hari Matsuda, Class of 1956

A Deep Dive on Hari Matsuda’s Uniquely Illustrious Design Career

Written by Hari Matsuda and Edited by Carly Garber

Many will say the gap between art and science is wide—uncrossable even. But every now and again an exceptional talent is able to merge the great divide. That’s where industrial designer and artist for more than 50 years, Hari Matsuda, steps in.

Humble beginnings is an understatement for Matsuda who once spent his days driving a tractor on his neighbor’s ranch. At the time, he didn’t dream further than the next lot, but little did he know a single block of wood was about to change the course of his life. During his junior year at his alma mater, WUHS, Matsuda read about General Motors’ student car styling competition. On a whim, he decided to enter. After receiving a simple block of balsa wood and four plastic tires, he got to work on his very first design. Matsuda’s love for art and science were piqued, and although his car design came nowhere close to winning, he never looked back. 

After graduating in 1956, Matsuda headed to college, earning a degree in industrial design and sculpture. He got his feet wet at IBM’s industrial design department where he had his very first internship. From there, without a job or a backup plan, Matsuda headed to Chicago to shoot his shot at some of the biggest design firms in the country. Long before the days of email and Indeed, it took nearly 30 phone calls and countless trips back and forth on CTA buses, but his hard work paid off—Matsuda landed his first job working on design projects for Zenith. 

Two years later, Matsuda was hired by the Ampex Corporation, an electronics company, and that’s when his career really began to flourish. He jumped in head-first, learning about mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and international business. By 1967, he was flown to Tokyo to meet with the world’s largest electronic corporations. But make no mistake, Matsuda could not hide his true artistic self, showing up to meetings with long hair, bell bottoms, and a cape. In fact, he gave a design presentation while donning psychedelic coveralls. Matsuda stayed true to himself, and to that an executive for an electronics company said, “Well, you know these artists.”

Matsuda is credited with some of the most iconic industrial designs of the 20th Century. While working for Ampex, he created what is known today as the “pause icon,” which billions of people now click on every single day. In 1972, he founded Hari & Associates, a firm specializing in consumer electronics and medical diagnostic equipment. He worked on groundbreaking projects like the first whole body CAT scan machine, nuclear medical scanners, and cell phones for Mitsubishi. 

But years working on the business side of design can take its toll on a true creative. Matsuda was avidly sculpting on the side, but had lost a bit of his lust for art. In passing, he showed one of his pieces to a colleague who liked it so much that he commissioned Matsuda to create a piece for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Once again, Matsuda’s passion for art was reignited and he began showing his work in galleries across the country. 

Today, Matsuda is back where it all started, California. Ironically, not too far from where he drove that tractor. Although retired now, he remains passionate about art and design, never quite able to escape his own talent even while engaging in something completely unrelated. For fun, he started racing and restoring Porches, and when he noticed it was difficult to read the sizes of wrenches, he invented a wrench sorting tray that Sears sold more than 600,000 of. Needless to say, Matsuda’s work speaks for itself, which you can take a look at, even be inspired by here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonhari/