Arriving alone in New York City during the height of the WW II it was not long before she entered the theater world with her own costume production house and soon was making costumes for many well known productions including for Ballet Society with George Balanchine; producing costumes with Marc Chagall for the production of Fire Bird; and on Broadway with Orson Welles on Around the World in 80 Days; South Pacific and so many others. And in 1947 Edith Lutyens produced Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The “The Telephone/The Medium” for Broadway.

It was during this time that she met and later married Norman Bel Geddes and in her own words considered this the happiest time of her life. Together they traveled, collaborated on multiple projects, and remained inseparable until Norman’s death in 1958.

Edith then worked for several years to preserve the Bel Geddes legacy by arranging for all his papers to be archived at The Harry Ransom Center in Austin Texas. This was a major accomplishment and it is to Edith’s credit that Norman’s work is accurately represented today.

To further that goal, in 2000 Edith conceived and created the Edith Lutyens & Norman Bel Geddes Foundation with the directive to assist those in the theater world who were most often overlooked; those, like her, who toiled “back of the curtain” as it were; the lighting people, the sound people, the technicians, and of course the costumer.

ART-NY has been the Foundation's partner in that mission since its inception. The goals of the Foundation are totally consistent with the important work of ART-NY, by supporting design innovation and securing a future for a vital and essential theater in New York.