Jessica Ebelhar/The New York Times
Lindsay Mound with Justin Lin, a photographer and Rabbit Movers employee, perform in the back of a Rabbit truck in Brooklyn.
Then there is Rabbit Movers, a moving company in Brooklyn that employs, exclusively, artists, musicians, writers and other creative types whose passions seem similarly incongruous with the hard, sweat-inducing labor associated with moving furniture around New York City.
“The whole ‘How can they lift anything?’ — we get that from time to time,” Shawn Lyons, the owner of Rabbit Movers, said in an interview. “There are, obviously, many artists out there that couldn’t lift a couch. We find the ones that can.”
Mr. Lyons, 35, started out as a “man with a van” in 2004, shortly after moving to Brooklyn with aspirations to write. But as he encountered a considerable demand for his services — and found that he had a knack for the work — what had been conceived as a side gig for extra cash began to dominate his time.
He hired more people to support his growing business, but quickly experienced what he described as “a ton of personality conflicts.” His first few employees, Mr. Lyons said, were strong movers, but shared few of his values or interests outside work.
Within a few months, he decided that, for better or worse, he would hire only people who were passionate about art, as he was, and had creative ambitions, as he did.
Today, Rabbit Movers owns three trucks and employs 40 people. Its reputation continues to grow through positive word of mouth and almost uniformly strong endorsement on Web sites like Yelp.com.
Mr. Lyons estimated that the company took in $400,000 last year, though he was unsure because he only recently began managing his books. But he remains in debt, he said, partly due to his devotion to an exciting byproduct of the endeavor: Rabbit’s growth as an artists’ collective.
Among other talents in the group, there are Justin Lin, 28, an accomplished fashion photographer and musician, and Blair Gimma, 26, a singer and songwriter who has been compared to Liz Phair. The company’s dispatcher, Kate Cantrill, 37, is working on a novel, which she hopes to finish this year, based on the stories she has heard and eccentric characters she has encountered while working for Rabbit.
“Everyone has the same goals, the same problems,” said Zach Rose, 26, a bass player and stand-up comedian. “Everything’s a bit easier because Shawn knows where we’re coming from.”
The artists of Rabbit, he said, benefit from a dynamic of collaboration and mutual inspiration. Several bands, for example, have formed from within the company’s ranks.
Rabbit also owns a gallery and performance space in Dumbo called Rabbithole Studio, previously a short-term storage facility, where the artists have gathered for impromptu gatherings and organized formal events to showcase their work.
Most of Rabbit’s clients remain oblivious to its artistic bent.
Kyra Kverno, a 33-year-old photographer, hired Rabbit early one recent morning to move her belongings out of a dusty Park Slope walk-up and into a neat duplex around the corner. She was happy to learn that in some roundabout way she was supporting the arts.
She was mostly just happy, though, with the move.
“I called them because my best friend told me they were the best,” Ms. Kverno said, checking the time on her cellphone as a stream of boxes was relayed out her door.
Mr. Lyons pays his workers a minimum of $11.50 an hour, but offers more to those with more experience and responsibilities. He even encourages them to steal away and pursue artistic opportunities.
“Shawn could be making a lot more money,” said Michael Tumbarello, 29, who raps under the alias Baje (pronounced “beige”) One in an underground hip-hop duo called Junk Science. “He doesn’t have to pay what he pays.”
Mr. Lyons’s background is predictably diverse. While studying literature at Temple University, in Philadelphia, he spent his summers in Alaska, working on salmon fishing boats and living alone in the woods. After college, he moved to San Francisco and spent three months digging a “hobbit hole” into the side of a hill at Lands End Park. He installed wood flooring, shelves and a rudimentary plumbing system, and, he said, lived in the burrow for three years.
And now, his employees say, he has found himself an unlikely patron of the Brooklyn art scene, content to set aside his own writing, for the time being, to provide a valuable platform for others.
“Shawn, in a way, is empowering all these people,” said Terence Degnan, 31, a poet who has released an album of spoken word performance. “He wants them to achieve their dreams.”
Cross Country Movers
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