Martin Linder

Martin Linder has worked as an indus­trial designer and educa­tor for over three decades. Martin served an appren­tice­ship in New Hope Pa. with James Martin and studied furni­ture design at Philadel­phia College of art with Robert Worth. He initially received inter­na­tional promi­nence for his award-winning designs during his grad­u­ate studies at the Cran­brook Academy of Art.

Martin focused his profes­sional design work in two areas: The creation of human machine systems that enhance airport, rail, and auto­mo­tive secu­rity and health care furni­ture design. At both InVi­sion Tech­nolo­gies, Reveal Imaging, and SAIC, Martin devel­oped explo­sive detec­tion inter­face systems currently used through­out the world. Busi­ness Week Maga­zine honored Mart­in’s achieve­ments with an Indus­trial Design Excel­lence Award for inno­va­tions in explo­sive detec­tion indus­trial design. His furni­ture designs have also received awards and been contin­u­ally exhib­ited through­out for the entirety of his career, most notably at Knoll/​Design America, Steel­case’s Metro Furni­ture, and Herman Miller Health Care Group. Martin won the Nightin­gale Health Care Product Inno­va­tion Award for his Florabella collec­tion for Herman Miller.

Martin has distin­guished himself as a design educa­tor and commu­nity action­ist. After teach­ing at the San Fran­cisco Academy of Art and the Cali­for­nia College of Art, Martin joined the design faculty at Fran­cisco State Univer­sity (SFSU). He received the pres­ti­gious Jeffer­son Award, a national recog­ni­tion system honor­ing commu­nity and public service in America and the Core 77 Inter­na­tional Educa­tion Notable Award. Martin received the Outstand­ing Commu­nity Service-Learn­ing Award that acknowl­edges, ​“Exem­plary Prac­tice in Commu­nity-Based Teach­ing and in 2008 received the Sarlo Excel­lence in Teach­ing Faculty Award” which is given to a profes­sor who provides ​“Extra­or­di­nary, Mean­ing­ful, and Lasting Contri­bu­tions to Teach­ing”. He was also named one of the ​“Most Admired Design Profes­sors” in Acad­e­mia by Design Intel­li­gence. SFSU awarded Martin Linder Full Profes­sor status. Recently SF State honored Martin with the estab­lish­ment the Martin Linder Endowed Student Scholarship. 

Martin Linder is the Founder of the Indus­trial Design Outreach, Inc. (IDO). Indus­trial Design Outreach, Inc. provides design educa­tion that cele­brates and fosters the diver­sity of thought and creativ­ity to high school students from margin­al­ized commu­ni­ties. Students are given mate­ri­als, tools and mentor­ship to help them proto­type and inno­vate in three dimen­sions. They learn prac­ti­cal and creative skills and are encour­aged to seek out histor­i­cal and cultural influ­ences to ensure their inno­va­tions reflect their world. Estab­lished in San Fran­cisco, CA in 2003 as a univer­sity insti­tute and estab­lished as a Cali­for­nia nonprofit in 2020, IDO has reach thou­sands of students. www​.indus​tri​alde​sig​noutreach​.org

Martin’s new creative works include the Liberty Series of Polit­i­cal Art Sculp­tures and Oil Paint­ings. His emerg­ing wood sewn and carved sculp­tures, Spirit Boards, can be viewed by appoint­ment at his San Fran­cisco California studio.