What began as an innovative idea for outdoor cooking has turned one Fayetteville man’s design sketches into the ultimate open-fire grill.

Damian Lux, a humorously selfproclaimed “backyard hero,” has long made a hobby of grilling outdoors. Whether it was charcoal, gas or open-flame, he loved the freedom of preparing food outside of the kitchen. But, about 15 years ago, he began shying away from using gas and ventured more toward charcoal and open-fire grilling.

Around that same time, he and his wife, Sherry, were having a landscaping project done in their backyard. One of the landscapers discovered an old, cast-iron stove original to the home and offered to build it into one of the stone walls they were constructing.

“That sounded like the coolest idea I’d heard all day,” Lux said. “So, they built it in, and I started cooking on it with just charcoal. There was just something about cooking over live fire, instead of a standard grill, that was fun.”

Lux had also dug a fire pit in his backyard and designed it with rocks and chairs for gatherings. When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, the venue became a regular hangout where his family and friends could safely spend time together. “We started hanging out down there more frequently,” he said. “We’d have some drinks, put on some music, and people would just enjoy being around the fire and have good conversation.”

He then began envisioning a way to grill over the fire pit for extra convenience and fun. He began sketching out ideas and worked with a neighbor to construct the first fire grill. 

The unique contraption was functional, but took too much effort to adjust the grill.

“And it was not very precise,” he said. “I started drawing up different ideas — literally just drawings of what I thought would work better,” Lux said. “I had a fire pit that looked really stylish, and I had a mechanism to provide necessary adjustability. I wanted it to be modern and aesthetically pleasing. I also knew that I wanted to make it out of stainless steel, because I didn’t want it to rust.”

He contacted a few manufacturers around the country, but no one had any interest. In a stroke of luck, he heard a radio ad for a local manufacturer looking to hire stainless steel welders and gave them a call. While the receptionist informed him that they don’t typically do these types of products, she did offer to let him leave a voicemail.

The owner of ARMI Manufacturing returned his call the following day and a meeting was set. “So, I met with him, and he said, ‘I love the concept, and I think you can make it work,’” Lux said.

At that point, he created LUX Grilling Company and began the process to commercialize the concept with ARMI Manufacturing’s talented engineering team who shared his passion for quality and embraced the vision with incredible energy.

Article continued in CitiScapes Magazine

What better way to celebrate the people we love than with delicious food cooked over an open flame? We gathered a group of friends and family at the beautiful Apple Seeds Teaching Farm in Fayetteville to prepare a special al fresco meal using the dynamic LUX Precision Fire Grill. These recipes are designed for entertaining…and this Arkansas-made grill was the focal point, allowing brilliant control for cooking with direct and indirect heat, while also serving as a wonderful invitation for everyone to quite literally gather around the fire.