Ritsu Katsumata is a humancentric experience designer, violinist, composer, and collaborative artist whose 30+ year career has never stayed in one lane — by design.

She began as a bilingual account executive at Dentsu in New York, overseeing the launch of Takashimaya Fifth Avenue and placing full-page campaigns in The New York Times. She went on to join Wieden & Kennedy's Tokyo office, where she worked on Nike Japan campaigns that crossed back into the US market. After three years in Tokyo, she moved into digital and academic communications at Cornell University and Bucknell University, becoming an early adopter of web design, multimedia, and video journalism. Most recently, she has led experience design for Amway and is currently embedded with Ford Motor Company on a service design initiative that connects dealer, staff, customer, and corporate needs through a unified digital platform.

In parallel, Ritsu has maintained an active life as a performer and collaborator. She has played Carnegie Hall and CBGB's. She has composed original scores for dance, silent film, and experimental video. She has created site-specific installations that turn buildings into archives and community tables into dialogue. Her work has appeared at ArtPrize, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, the Grand Rapids Ballet, and the 2025 International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities in Hilo, Hawaii.

She is a self-described positive deviant: someone who breaks the rules not out of disregard for them, but because she has already seen where following them leads.

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