Bright Lyons Arrives on Atlantic

The recent opening of the design, art, and interiors shop  is an exciting contribution to the ever-expanding Atlantic Avenue design district. 

The space strikes you as unique immediately when you enter;  mid-century modern furniture design, sure, but what about all of this contemporary art? Giant papier mache sculptures, photography and brighly colored paintings fill the shop.

At first it may seem outside your expectations of an average commercial store or gallery based soley on the unexpected selection of seemingly disparate items. However this is not what sets it apart. Rather, the opposite is true -- the quite deliberate inclusion of everything in the store, and the optimistic philosophy about art and design, is what holds it all together.

Paul Bright, a Canadian-born Boerum Hill resident with a mop of sandy blond hair and a history of gallery and record store ownership, explains.

"I am trying to find a way of blending art, design and interiors in a way that doesn't cheapen any of them individually," he says.

Bright describes how he sees the colors and patterns of one piece in the store interacting with and playing off of another, even if the two pieces are divided by decades. This studied interplay of aesthetics is one of the qualities that sets Bright Lyons apart from the crowd.

"I want this space to be a vibrant working organism," he explains.

Bright's shop is influenced by mid-century modern furniture and textile design as well as elements from his own musical and artistic past. This includes the Fort Thunder art and music scene in Providence, RI during the mid 90s as well as the "do it yourself" rebellious attitude of hardcore punk. Toward the back of the store, amidst 1950s textiles, you can find Raymond Pettibon Black Flag posters.

Bright identifies with the self empowered and innovative furniture making approach of Charles and Ray Eames, which they developed outside of traditional manufacturing models, likening it to the same punk attitude.

Regardless of whether an item in the store is a now classic piece of mid-century Modern furniture, or a contemporary photograph of two men on a motorcycle in front of a lit house at night (one in leather the other nearly nude), the underlying thread in the shop is one of artistic innovation and an almost forceful break from conventional art and design ideas of the time.

Individual taste and expression through design can bring a space to life and make the space feel "good." Bright considers the store a laboratory for exploring the way objects inform the overall feeling of interior spaces.

Some special finds at Bright Lyons:

• Stainless steal and ebony flatware designed by American textile designer Alexander Girard in the mid-1960s for the first class cabins during his commissioned redesign of Braniff Airlines ($100 per place setting)

• Master silk screener and founding member of Space 1026 in Philadelphia Andrew Jeffrey Wright's "X Waves" paintings, created using the "Sunshine and Shadows" pattern of Amish quilts. ($600-$800)

• George Nelson, one of the founders (with Charles and Ray Eames) of American Modernism, rare 1948 round coffee table with embedded aluminum planter ($2,500)

Bright Lyons is a true neighborhood gem, combining beauty and smarts in the framework of one of America's favorite pastimes: shopping.

Bright Lyons

383 Atlantic Avenue

917-474-7655

Open Wed - Sun 12 - 6 pm