Luttmann Studios
40+ Years of Making
Below you can find the history of our shop from 1983 to present day Artifaqt.
- John
1983
Hardcarved Signage
I opened up shop on Main Street in Phoenixville in 1983. I was designing and producing hand carved signs for real estate development & retail stores along Philadelphia’s western main line.
I was fortunate to place in the Signs of the Times’ national every year I entered contest. This recognition provided exposure to the nation’s environmental graphic design world.
In 1987, I was contracted to produce the specialty signage for a major rehab of Zoo Atlanta.
Fortune came my way as this work won several awards in Signs of the Times national contest which connected me
to David Carter Design Associates (DCDA) in Dallas.
The next two images are examples of the signage work we did from 1983-1999.
By the mid 1990s, Luttmann Studios was regarded as the most renowned boutique sign makers in the nation.
guestroom identity signs for the hospitality industry
8 International / 12 USA
a selection of specialty signs for the hospitality industry
1n 1990, David Carter brought us in on 2 projects at Walt Disney World.
Upon completion of these 2 projects, the director of Disney’s Resorts Planned Work (RPW) invited me to meet with him in Orlando. RPW managed Disney World’s hotel properties which totaled 20,000 guest rooms.
Our work was highly praised within the Disney. They discovered I had engineering and wrote the specs on both projects and wished to hire me as a consultant. I was contracted under a master agreement to work with the RPW team member. I was titled their Guru of Signage and Sculpture.
We soon ended our role as sign makers as our next project for Disney was Ohana.
from concept to completion
Ohana Restaurant
designed + fabricated - all architectural and sculptural components
Before
After
48 tiki column covers / 38 animal outriggers / 38 torches
99 panels above firepit / 12 free standing tiki sculpture / all wall art / all sisal lashing
700 lineal feet of palm log / 400 lineal feet of bamboo bundles / (6) 4’x4’x4’ pallets of stone facia
1999
Flying Fish Cafe
Every month from 1990 to 2020 there was at least one project on our floor for Walt Disney World.
Eventually, we transitioned from restaurants to designing lighting and furniture for Disney’s hotel guest rooms.
2006
Pirates of the Caribbean Resort
2004
Polynesian Resort
Wilderness Lodge
2005
artifaqt
To balance out the ebb and flow of contract work, in search of new income to maintain my staff, we began work on our own product line. Artifaqt was born in 2005, starting with work product similar to the work we were doing for Disney and the hotel industry.
We started with lighting, switchplates and other home goods.
2010
Serveware
In 2010, I gifted Jose Garces a wooden serving board. The next day he contracted us to make 20 boards for a new opening.
Our entry into the tabletop industry began.
My 30 years experience in mold making and quest to learn sand casting and lost wax foundry production connected me to Eric Ripert and Le Bernardin. Le Bernardin has been awarded 3 Michelin stars for 35 years in a row.
I have design 19 products for Eric Ripert.
At that time, Artifaqt is the only company to design + manufacture custom tabletop products for Le Bernardin.
You can pick up our journey of making serveware and tabletop goods on our Restaurant Industry page.
For the rest of the story...
Please visit our WOOD , METAL, and BEESWAX pages to see what we make now!