Fondly known on the Vineyard as “the wire guy,” or “man of steel,” West Tisbury artist Steve Lohman has experienced national and international recognition for his gift of twisting metal into art. But when he received an e-mail in October from someone at Louis Vuitton inviting him to Asia on a commission, he thought it was a joke.

“I definitely wondered if it was a scam,” he says. It was not. On Halloween night he was on a plane en route to Hong Kong to participate in the glamorous opening of the French luxury goods label’s new store.

The opening, Mr. Lohman says, was thematic, based on the five Chinese elements, metal, earth, fire, water and wood; “And I was just supposed to represent metal.”

But when he arrived, he was asked instead to create five designs to represent all five elements. Then he would recreate each from scratch (well, from wire), over and over, to offer as gifts from Louis Vuitton to guests (who included actress Michelle Yeoh of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame). “I was the only live artist there, making sculptures on site.

“It was absolutely over the top,” Mr. Lohman says, of the opening celebration. The entranceway to the new store was lined with elaborate art installations in the elemental theme — a volcano for fire, tanks of exotic fish for water. There was exquisite food. And it didn’t hurt, Mr. Lohman adds, that one of the Louis Vuitton holdings is the French vintner of bubbly, Veuve Clicquot.

The artist appreciated the beauty of his extraordinary experience on many levels — the spectacular view of the Causeway Bay in Kowloon through the floor-to-ceiling windows of his suite at the luxury hotel where he was accomodated; the eye-candy opulence of the party itself; the elegant design of the Louis Vuitton wallet he was given. But what caught his eye, and heart, most was another beauty he found quite unexpectedly.

After the opening, he had planned to make a three-week journey through southeast Asia. But he was invited to be the artist-in-residence, so to speak, at another store opening, this one in Singapore, in November.

He had only three weeks to make another 200 sculptures, so instead of the backpacking trip he envisioned, Mr. Lohman stayed in nicer hotels ($30 a night instead of $5) and he stayed in cities where he could access the Internet and resources for shipping the sculptures. He was also less adventurous with food, as he couldn’t risk any gastronomic concerns that might slow him down. It was exhausting work, making as many as 30 sculptures a day.

“I divided my time between working, sightseeing and getting massages. I would get an hour massage, and then get another hour just for my hands,” he recalls.

Mr. Lohman visited a number of temples, and though he couldn’t spend as much time at them as he would have liked, he took hundreds of photos and made sketches that he sent home. He says he was definitely inspired, and a little awestruck, at the beauty of the stonework, where even rocks underneath some waterfalls had been intricately carved.

He took a three-day, slow boat trip: “I made sculptures while I watched the Mekong River float by.” He also took a cooking class and toured some markets; in Luang Prabang, he was able to buy an enormous spool of wire. He also bought a large quilt, partly for its artistic beauty, but also, he says, because he wanted to give more to these people “who are so poor, and so welcoming and friendly.”

In Vietnam, Mr. Lohman says, he was deeply moved by an across-the-board generosity of spirit to Americans, though the people there still suffer the legacy of the Vietnam War: “You see so many people, kids, who are disfigured from land mines,” he says, noting that the mines are active still.

While in Cambodia, Mr. Lohman went to the school in Siem Reap which Oak Bluffs harbormaster Todd Alexander and his wife, Kara, helped to build in 2001. Mr. Lohman performed a magic show for the students — there are now 1,200.

Meanwhile he developed a friendship with his tuk-tuk (rickshaw) driver, who invited Mr. Lohman to a birthday party for his four-year-old daughter.

Inspired by the Alexanders, who have helped to fundraise and build more schools, and who sponsor a Cambodian family, Mr. Lohman is now sponsoring his friend’s little girl and will pay for her education through high school. The cost is only about $100 per year, a shockingly low number to most of us but completely out of reach for many Cambodians whose monthly income can be as little as $25.

Mr. Lohman says he will definitely return, and he may be able to go back in the not so distant future, for some more Louis Vuitton openings. He fully appreciates his fortune, that his work as an artist would take him to such exotic places. Yet the experience was jarring, he says, seeing such a juxtaposition of lifestyles.

It was while offering elemental gifts to some of the world’s jet-setting, wealthy and most beautiful people, however, that Mr. Lohman made something more rewarding: a connection to one beautiful little girl, for the betterment of her world.