Archtops are in general very traditional and thus conservative in their designs. But with new woods, construction techniques, and playing styles, this guitar type is perfect for new ideas and designs.
The Tortoise is an avantgarde archtop to the max. It has many features rare on an archtop: multi-scale, headless, unique soundhole design and tuning.
Sankey is raising the bar on avantgarde archtop making. Few in the world are capable of such one-off custom designs with such unique construction.