The development of Richie Hawtin as a DJ started early as his father was a big fan of electronic music. Growing up in LaSalle, Ontario, his experience with electronic music also improved considerably since Detroit was separated to LaSalle, Ontario by merely a river. Detroit is considered the birthplace of techno and Hawtin was considered part of the second-wave of artists that was influenced by the city.
Hawtin started working in various clubs in Detroit at 17. After three years as a DJ, he established the record label called "Plus-8" with DJ John Aquaviva. The establishment of the record company has made him one of the few artists that were highly successful despite being under an independent label. Hawtin also created the record label company, Minus. This label was established for the sole purpose of releasing and managing his various projects.
Hawtin is one of the leading electronic musicians under the sub-genre minimal techno. This sub-genre of techno music allow artists to use a base element (or a beat) and slowly infusing them with variations during the duration of the song.
The world class music artist is currently residing in Berlin, Germany where he believes his form of music is widely accepted. Since then, he has also worked on major collaborations such as creating music for the Winter Olympics.
Hawtin is also known as "plastikman" and his official website adopts the said alias. As part of the techno music industry since the early 90s, Hawtin is already considered as one of the pioneers of the industry.