Celebrating 30 Years of SOLIDWORKS Innovation

Three decades of design excellence. Infinite possibilities ahead.

Celebrating 30 Years of SOLIDWORKS Innovation

For 30 years, SOLIDWORKS has empowered engineers, innovators, and creators to bring their boldest ideas to life. At Hawk Ridge Systems, we’re proud to celebrate this milestone as one of SOLIDWORKS’ longest-standing and most trusted partners, helping thousands of teams design better, faster, and smarter.

A Partnership Built on Innovation

Since our beginning, Hawk Ridge Systems has shared SOLIDWORKS’ vision: to make powerful design and engineering tools accessible to every innovator.

Together, we’ve supported the creators behind life-changing products—from pioneering startups to global manufacturers—through technology, training, and trusted expertise.

This 30-year celebration is a moment to recognize the people and projects that define what’s possible with SOLIDWORKS.

The SOLIDWORKS 30th
Anniversary Design Contest

In honor of this milestone, designers and engineers from around the world submitted their most creative, impactful projects & were given the chance to win some fun prized from the 90s!

Each design reflects the innovation, precision, and imagination that have driven SOLIDWORKS users for three decades.

Thank you to the global community that joined us in celebrating 30 years of design excellence.

Featured Designs from the SOLIDWORKS 30 Community

Explore standout projects submitted by innovators using SOLIDWORKS and supported by Hawk Ridge Systems. Each design tells a story of creativity, engineering excellence, and real-world impact.

James Leath / Leath Design

Hi, I'm James Leath, founder of Leath Design LLC. As an Industrial Designer who has used SOLIDWORKS for the past 15 years, I've used the program for a wide array of projects and have found it to be invaluable for creating not only 3D concepts that can be turned into physical prototypes, but also for when those ideas need to move into the manufacturing stage.

Brian Aldington / Anchor Danly

Well, I can't say that this was my first project, but It was something I designed and built over 10 years ago. Attached is a 'Plinko' style board that uses bottle caps as the game piece. It's mounted to the side of my bar right now and is still used regularly.

Cory Ochitwa

The first part I ever modeled in SOLIDWORKS would have been a university assignment in 1996 or 1997 likely. I don’t have any photos of that but here’s a 3D printed model one of our summer students gave me from what his team sent to space.

Dan Kernion / Redmond High School

My first part that really made a difference for me was creating a new bridge for Mandolins when I was working at Breedlove Guitars in Bend Oregon.

Daniel Eads / Boston Scientific

My first part was born out of necessity - necessity to land and keep a job!!! I had started with my current company as a contractor and had a ton of 2D CAD experience but had never worked on 3D platforms. It wasn't long before I was asked to generate 3D models and drawings in SOLIDWORKS, of which I had no exposure or experience. The company was using SOLIDWORKS 2008 I believe at the time. The other hurdle I had to overcome is that the company was NOT going to pay for any kind of training since I was a contract employee...that had to come out of my pocket!!!

Tad Harmon / Classic Turning Inc

My name is Tad Harmon, I'm 32 years old and I've been in manufacturing for 13 years now. I got into the industry right after high school and have worked my way up from running machines to now be a Quality Engineer for my company.

Abdulmuizz Sanni / Federal University of Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State, Nigeria

My first part or design that I did in SOLIDWORKS was a football pitch, being a football fan, the thought of designing a football pitch just came suddenly, at first I found it hard to start because I don't even know where to start from or how to start, I barely knew anything about SOLIDWORKS, just some basic sketches and features command but I decided to take on the challenge and by making mistakes while designing it, am going to learn more and broaden my knowledge.

Craig Reitz / RallyTrack

My first part was probably a heatsink or other part for cellular amplifiers back in the days of 2G. The inspiration was quite simply to be gainfully employed. SOLIDWORKS inspired my long-tenured CAD journey because of how simple and straightforward making models and drawings became.

Jeverson Fronza / J2fr Treinamentos

My journey with SOLIDWORKS began back in college, around 2016, during my final year project. The challenge was to design an assembly with at least two movements — a task that, at first, felt both exciting and intimidating. After some thought, I decided to create something familiar yet functional: an office chair with motion in both the wheels and the axis.

Arash Nikniazi / Queen's University

The first part I ever designed in SOLIDWORKS was a portable solar cooker, a foldable parabolic concentrator capable of converting sunlight into infrared heat for clean and sustainable cooking. My goal was simple: create a device that works anywhere, even under cloudy skies.

Christopher Saller / Ducommun

30 years ago (don't have images anymore). We purchased SW new, but my manager would not let us learn it yet. I took it upon myself to learn it anyway without his knowledge. I heard we were getting a major contract. I created the models and a nice rendering. I was called into a meeting with managers and the customer.

Mike Hodge / Essentra Components (formerly Micro Plastics)

My first SOLIDWORKS project was an aluminum shifter plate for a "hot rod" project, with LEDs to indicate current gear. Originally modeled on an Engineering-student friend's laptop circa 2000... running SOLIDWORKS 1998, if I recall correctly. I only had experience with 2D CAD at that point, so there was definitely a learning curve!

Joshua Davila / Sohn Manufacturing

My first original design in SOLIDWORKS was the capstone project for my degree in Mechanical Design and Engineering Technology. I was tasked with creating a gearbox based on certain gear specifications.

Jason Cline

I started off as a hobbyist just wanting to make parts for toys. A friend had an old version of SOLIDWORKS and I started teaching myself how to use it. As I started getting into toy and part production using 3D printers, I realized I needed more professional knowledge of the program, and took a class at a local community college. While I'm still learning, I was able to create this model kit with working parts.

Mohamed Nourdine Ndouoyap Njitoyap / TRYSTAR

Created a detailed 3D model of an electrical enclosure using SOLIDWORKS, including mounting panels, knockout holes, and precise dimensions for component fitment. The design focuses on manufacturability, accessibility for wiring, and structural integrity. All key features such as wall thickness, hole placement, and corner reinforcements were defined to ensure proper functionality and compliance with standard enclosure requirements.

Derrick Pierce / 1922 commercial

I went from building furniture out in the plant to designing furniture in the production office.

Chris Julian / Intuitive surgical

This project started back in 2006 and has evolved for almost 20 years. It’s an Ultima GTR that’s been completely reimagined. I have video of the car that won pacific grove rally during Monterey car week in 2022 as well as complete assembly models and a huge assortment of imagery focused on its design and construction over the years.

Troy Gassman / First District

I was working as a tool designer in 2000 at a commercial playground company using AutoCAD to design fixtures and jigs to use to manufacture commercial playground equipment. We decided to switch to SOLIDWORKS and I was sent to SOLIDWORKS training. After one week of training I was able to successfully use SOLIDWORKS to design my first weld fixture.

Utugi Kinyanjui / Messiah University

Used SOLIDWORKS to interpret a 2D technical drawing and accurately recreate the part as a 3D model. The process involved analyzing geometric relationships, applying dimensional constraints, and using extrude and cut features to replicate each element with precision. This exercise helped reinforce skills in reading engineering drawings and translating them into fully defined 3D components.

Troy Gassman / First District

Joseph Brhel / Joe Brhel

I was tasked with making an 8ft diameter golf ball using vacuum formed plastic. Knowing that soccer balls can be made from 12 pentagons & 20 hexagons, I used that as a starting place. One of the challenges is that the seams where the polygons meet are very complex curves.

Phil McLeod / Superior Plastic Products

I was new to a machine shop and wanted to make a place to organize some of the tools and items on top of my toolbox. I was also learning SOLIDWORKS, so I decided to try my hand at designing this worktop organizer.

Brady Whitney / PlayIt Creations/Iowa State University

I attended Iowa State University originally to study Civil Engineering; learning quite quickly that high school math is far easier than the collegiate level. Having loved using 3D software programs in high school, I knew I wanted to work in some sort of profession that DESIGNED products using CAD programs.

Nicholas Higdon / Auburn University

I have always been interested in design as a kid, starting with simple things like LEGOS. In college when I finally got introduced to SOLIDWORKS and CAD in general, I was in love. I have used it for many projects in school as I am a Junior at Auburn University pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree.

Daniel Matarazzo / Boonton High School

I first started to learn SOLIDWORKS back in 2007. It was a required course for the Product Design program at MSU. I loved working with it and as soon as I was done with my modeling homework, I quickly started to model anything I could think of. The built in rendering was amazing at the time and made my designs feel real.

Nicholas Higdon / Auburn University

Daniel Matarazzo / Boonton High School

Chris Johnson / Front Range Community College

I first heard about SOLIDWORKS when I was getting my ECE from CU Boulder. I am currently getting close to finishing an associates degree at Front Range Community College in CADD and there is an introduction and advanced SOLIDWORKS course offered here in Colorado.

Remzo Dedic / University of Mostar

I was a professor at the University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am now retired. I received a Fulbright scholarship in 2003/4. I was at Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There I worked on a project to mechanize an above-knee prosthesis.

Douglas Richard / DDU Magnetics, Inc

As a pre-teen, my father took me to family day at his place of work. He worked for a subsidiary of Rockwell and they were building the space shuttle at the time. He’s gone now but he encouraged me to dream and create and explore. I developed an interest in electric motors and it became my life’s work. I honor my father in his absence with my work.

Austin Howlett / Dunwoody College of Technology

Before I started college, I told my high school e-sorts coach that I'm going into their cad mdes program. So she gave me 3 old cad programs that her uncle gave her that she wasn't using; AutoCAD 2006, pro engineer firebird 2.0, and SOLIDWORKS Professional 2004.

Three decades of design excellence. Infinite possibilities ahead.