Lutjens is best known for his contributions to modernist furniture design, which were shown at the 1937 Paris Exhibition. He also worked on architectural projects, including the design of a house for the director of Philips in Eindhoven in 1936.
Lutjens also taught design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague from 1947 to 1959. His career was interrupted by the Second World War, during which he was interned in a concentration camp in Germany.
Today, the works of Willem Lutjens are exhibited in several art and design museums in the Netherlands, including the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.