01 Custom-made Lutopians

You can have your very own and one-of-a-kind softie, made to order after a drawing you send to contact@lutopia.ro.

*If one of our models inspires you and you would like to own it, please write us and we'll try to contact the authors of the drawing. If they agree, they will receive 10% from the sales.

02 Limited Series Lutopians

Lutopians make trustworthy and loyal friends. They are very protective, especially when fighting all those monsters under your bed. Or under your skin :)

Every item includes the following:

03 Lutopians waiting to be born

Now you can have your own personalized softie, custom made after a drawing you choose from our gallery!

04 Story

Welcome to our fantasy land: a growing family of unique soft-creatures, invented by children of all ages!

Hover over the image to see the finished toy.

LUtOPIA was born in 2009, as a playful game of affection between an aunt and her nephew.

The story began when Klara decided to create a gift for the two year old Tom, using her favorite cashmere pullover — which shrank in the washing machine… She cut it all up and tailored a soft plush-toy inspired by a drawing of a Bird made for her by Tom: the T-bird came to life.

Tom never stopped drawing ever since, and their imaginary world got populated with dragons, animals and buildings sketched by the tireless inventor. This game also inspired friends and strangers to send in doodles and drawings - made by their friends and/or children.

Beautiful life stories and friendships unfolded in the process and it's the immense joy of the receivers that fuels and keeps the project going. Because putting smiles on people's faces is an addictive endeavor…

 

Klara L. Veer (b. 1979) is the founder of LUtOPIA, a designer + architect working and playing in Cluj, Romania. Her interests revolve around celebrating human creativity, collaborative art and playfulness.

She considers LUtOPIA’s success a healthy and natural reaction (of an environmentally conscious public) against the overpowering force of mass production in the contemporary toy-industry.

 

Her nephew, Tom (b. 2007) still spends most of his play-time drawing on any medium he can find, though lately he definitely prefers walls and table mats!

05 Our Studio

This is our nest — where all Lutopians are born.
You're welcome to pass by when you're in town.

06 Our happy customers

“If you need a gift for a very special and sensitive person, and you can also steal a drawing made by them, call LUtOPIA — now!” Cristina P.
“I fell in love with this idea from the first sight (its originality and presentation) and I knew it would be the perfect surprise for Vladimir, the giraffe lover.” Ilinca N.
“…Tashi was afraid of bad wolves so I thought that helping him make friends with his self-drawn wolf would be a nice gift for his birthday. And so it was!” Mirela I.
“I wanted to give a special gift to my daughter on Mother's Day: I dreamed that the mummy she drew — that would be me ☺ — would become a doll that Ianca would take to school… well now she takes her everywhere she goes!” Diana S.
“Hellooo! We were so glad to receive the ladybug (bubu — that's how Maya calls her). It was such an emotional encounter when Maya recognized her own creation!” Alina I.
“From the very first email LUtOPIA kept me updated with all the steps of the process, and I received pictures from different working stages. It's so charming that she is taking her work so seriously, since it's only about plush toys…”
“I recommended LUtOPIA as an overall experience - we got exactly what we were wishing for, with some extra grace and kindness from the author.”
“I was so happy seeing my daughter happy…!”
“My niece was proud to give me a drawing with which she won a drawing contest. I decided to find somebody who would bring the Rooster to life. And I found LUtOPIA… much joy followed!” F. Ildiko

08 People

LUtOPIA is a project created by Klara Veer, inspired by Tom's endless fantasies. Read the rest of the story.

The project wouldn't be what it is without the generosity and encouragement of Tibi Bucșa, Dan Burzo, Marius Fărcaș, Cristina Greavu, Lavi Jaba, Attila Kim, Benjamin Kohl, Sandra&Paul Moldovan, George Roșu, Oana Stăncioiu, Alin Tănasă, Renata Veer (Tom's mother) and all our incredible friends and family who helped build LUtOPIA with their enthusiasm, talent and advices. You know who you are!

Crafty collaborators

Emese comes from a family of creative people and has been making things with her own hands since she was very little. She is collecting illustrated children's books and beautiful textiles and she's sewing for friends and making her own clothes. She also enjoys cooking, watching movies while crocheting, walking the dog and making plans to survive the reality of being an archaeologist.

Lavi loves embroidery, not only because she learned it from her grandmother but also because creating sustainable and nice objects is, for her, a way of life. She enjoys sewing-bees and warm teas and is always there to help her friends bring all those wonderful projects to life.

Anamaria has had a recent love affair with LUtOPIA in 2013 and we are very thankful for her crafting and organizational skills.

Website team

09 Press

LUtOPIA in the media

Media Kit

Here you can find downloads of press releases, background info and high-resolution images for publication.

Need anything else? Please contact Lu via contact@lutopia.ro or call +40–758–832–008.

07 Free Patterns

This is a free tutorial with a printable pattern to guide you in making your very own Lutopian:

Make your own Roadan (PDF)

Enjoy your first hand-made lutopian! Don’t hesitate to drop us a message if you need any help with using it, your feedback is very welcome.

If it works for you, please consider supporting our project by tossing one euro or two in our PayPal donations account:

10 Things that people ask us

WHAT is LUtOPIA?

LUtOPIA is a design project based on the transformation of creative doodles - and children's drawings - into three-dimensional softies, handmade with love. Read the full story.

All Lutopians and friendly to nature: we are using up-cycled fabrics with natural fibers (donated shrunken woolen pullovers, most of the time :).

Their conception involves a special collaborative process between the Maker, a “godparent” who sends in the drawing and the creative Doodler who usually has no idea about the surprise.

LUtOPIA has an ever growing population and each citizen is truly unique and personalized. As an exception, limited soft-series are produced for special occasions, e.g. charitable auctions, special collections or the recent local ecologist rallies, when they were offered as gifts for the participating children.

WHO is LUtOPIA?

LUtOPIA was born as a game between me and my 2yrs old nephew, and became one of my favorite projects. I consider that it's success is simply a healthy and natural reaction of an environmentally conscious public against the overpowering force of mass production in the toy-industry.

Want to retail or distribute our products?

Please send us an email to contact@lutopia.ro.

F.A.Q.

Here's a list with the most frequently asked questions since the start of the project - please don't hesitate to write us if you have any other queries or collaborative ideas.

Q. What can I do in order to adopt a Lutopian?

a) if you fell in love with one of the existing ones from the limited series, you pick the model and we can see how to go along.

b) if you want to take part in the magical creative act, you send us a photo with a drawing waiting to be born.

Q. How much does it cost to buy a Lutopian?

A. Depending if you are ordering a unique Lutopian or buying an existing one made in small series. You can find the prices here and here.

Q. How do you decide on the names for the softies?

A. The children are naming (almost all of) their drawings themselves.

Q. When did you start making Lutopians?

A. It started as a hobby for me, in 2008-2009 as I was discovering the pure joy of playing Geppetto. But Life always seems to know it better: the word spread fast (especially after being "discovered" by Radio Guerilla who awarded us with free advertising in 2011) and lots of people started sending us wonderful drawings, asking for their own softies. And I simply can't refuse it when a new LUtOPIAN wants to come to life…

Q. What do you do for a living?

A. Actually, I am working as an architect and designer - while Tom still has his Sugar mamma + Sugar daddy who pay his bills :)

Q. What are the toys made of?

A. We're re-using a wide range of clean, natural recycled fabrics that include cashmere, wool, silk, cotton, viscose, etc. The softies are stuffed with 100% polyester fiberfill-balls (actually, this is one of my favorite German words: Klimafaserkügelchen :)

Q. How big are the softies?

A. The sizes differ, especially because my work depends on the format of the fabrics that I recycle. Most of the times we use woolen pullovers that shrank after being washed too hot. This obviously made my some of my friends happy - I received a couple of cosy shrunk cashmere pullies for my project. Do you also have one ?

Q. Wouldn't it be easier to just use new fabrics?

A. It probably would, but searching through my collection and matching colors and textures is so much more fun than shopping! And I believe in buying less and recycling more…

11 Terms and Conditions

Payment Methods

When your order has been confirmed, payment can be made through PayPal or by bank transfer. During the order process, we will ask you for your preferred payment method. For payments via Paypal you will receive a secure payment link; For payments via bank transfer, we will provide you the necessary payment details.

Payments need to be received in full before the order can be dispatched.

A special note to those ordering a gift

Please call us and let us know if the item(s) you are ordering is a gift to check availability. Because all of our items are made to order, your order may not be available to ship immediately and we will do our best to prioritize your order to ensure your gift is sent on time. You can reach us Monday–Friday from 9AM–6PM at +40–758–832–008 or by email at contact@lutopia.ro.

Shipping

Hurray, now we can ship worldwide! Please email contact@lutopia.ro for any shipping questions/concerns.

Rates for shipping and handling will be calculated at checkout

International shipments charges will be determined at checkout. If you need your item delivered faster, please write us at contact@lutopia.ro so we may expedite your package. Additional shipping charges will apply.

All of our items are made by hand in Cluj, Romania and are made to order. For this reason, on average, your order will ship within 10 business days. If the item is immediately available, it will ship within 1 business day.

Shipping Confirmation

For all online orders, you will be emailed at time of shipment with shipping confirmation and tracking number (if available).

Returns

If you are not completely satisfied by your lutopian you are entitled to ask for a 100% refund of the products cost, that you will receive after the item has safely landed in our studio without any sign of wear or damage. Please note that we cannot cover the return shipping costs.

How to clean/care for your lutopian

Our best recommendation to cleaning your lutopian is to take it to a trusted cleaners. Try to avoid exposing it to water and moisture. If you need to wash it at home, do it by hand using mild detergent and water at a maximum of 30°C.

Personal Data Protection Policy

LUtOPIA undertakes to protect the confidentiality of the information of our customers and visitors to our website. We will not reveal information on our customers to third parties except when this is necessary to provide them with our services, for example provide for shipment of a product, assess their solvency and perform other security checks, perform research on customers and draw up their profiles, or when you have been expressly authorized us to do so.

12 LUtOPIA Blog

Read all our posts on lutoys.blogspot.com