Name: Lyon Porter
Age: 43
Occupation: Hotelier, Designer, Restauranteur
Instagram: @lyonporter
Hometown: Shaker Heights, Ohio
Studio location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Describe what you make: I create environments that evoke an emotion.
Designer Of The Day
Designer Of The Day: Lyon Porter
Lyon Porter’s unconventional career path includes pit stops in professional hockey, New York City real estate, the hospitality world, and interior design. Along with co-founder and life partner Jersey Banks, the Brooklyn-based designer has parlayed a five-room passion project in a Brooklyn townhouse into the Urban Cowboy, whose fifth outpost just debuted inside a Gilded Age mansion in Denver. Known for theatrical aesthetics, a found-objects ethos, and creative-class clientele, the brand has also served as a springboard for Porter’s own design aspirations—he envisions every detail of each property himself—culminating in the recent launch of his own studio, Cowboy Creative.
By Nate Storey November 07, 2023
The new Urban Cowboy Denver.
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A cabin room at Urban Cowboy Catskills.
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The most important thing you’ve designed to date: The Urban Cowboy in Brooklyn. It was my first time designing for myself and it was truly a stroke of magic. Everything has come from that spark and it continues to be the hub for our creative community and has now evolved into the home for our family. It was the first, and may always remain the most important. Everything has grown from there.
Describe the problem your work solves: If you feel something from my design, my work is done. It’s always personal for me, an expression of a romantic nostalgia for the present. I want to transport you out of your daily life, and give you a real experience…..Jersey (my partner and co-founder) has always thought I should do set design!
Describe the project you’re working on now: A wide range of design projects all over the U.S., from the new Urban Cowboy in a Gilded Age Mansion in Denver (our fifth hotel) and a loft in SoHo to a bank headquarters and post-modern, Atomic-style bowling alley in Nashville that would look right at home in The Big Lebowski.
The Porter-designer East Side Bowl in Nashville.
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Cowboy Creative's recently completed residence in SoHo, New York City.
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A new or forthcoming project we should know about: We just finished an amazing redesign of the 1860s Onsite Workshops Mansion in Tennessee. They are doing wildly transformative wellness there. The founder Miles Adcox, Pfeffer Torode Architecture, and I put a lot of research into colors and decor that inspire positive emotions. It’s also a treasure trove of vintage gems like the 34-foot-long chandelier hanging in the spiral staircase whose previous home was the iconic Palace Hotel in New York City. So proud of that project.
Inside Cowboy Creative's makeover of an 1800s Victorian manse for Onsite Workshops in Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee.
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A vintage chandelier from iconic Palace Hotel dangles through the spiral staircase at the Onsite Workshops mansion.
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What you absolutely must have in your studio: Shenanigans are a must. We always have people stopping over, and it’s fun to have blankets, hats, and other textures that people can engage and play with. And Palo Santo—we are always steady burning palo.
What you do when you’re not working: Spending time with our 3-year-old daughter Banks and my 11-year-old son LP3 is really how I like to spend my time off. When I’m not dadding, I love to travel and explore other countries with Jersey. We just got back from living on the beach in Mexico and I see the ocean and other destinations in our future. We’re on the hunt for a beach Cowboy if anyone wants to do one!
The café area at Onsite Workshops.
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Sources of creative envy: I’ve been obsessed with Gaudi since the first time I went to Barcelona, before I even knew I was a designer. I am in awe of people like him, Warhol, Julian Schnabel, and Ian Schrager, who can fly between and eventually above specific mediums—yet you feel their touch on all of it. It’s beautiful and distinctive and makes you feel something, makes you feel alive.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Email. I feel like people think email is work, but I’m trying to get off screens as much as possible. Do more things that are tactile. I’m always happier when I touch objects like wallpapers, rugs, and antiques.
Concrete or marble? Marble.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Sorry I don’t remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Both. Can’t have one without the other.