There's a Pretty Snake on Brook St.

A bit of Dali in the window. Photo Peter Phipps

The Pretty Snake on Brook Street is the coolest thing in Fox Point since a developer tore down George’s aquarium and put up an apartment box.

The aquarium was a business, of course. But it was magical: the fish, the bubblers and the mural that stretched down the walls and onto the sidewalk. I know a kid from Barrington who used to drive into the city to wander up and down the rows. 

Textile artist Joe Segal has created that sort of lose-yourself-in-a-tank experience at his new showroom at Brook and Transit.

One neighbor said the wilting pillars in the front windows reminded him of Salvador Dali. I felt like I had stepped into Pee-wee Herman’s Fun House.

Segal, a RISD grad and prof, designed, collected, commissioned or made just about every inch of it. 

It’s a trip. You may find your self staring at the ceiling or trying to sort out Segal’s geometric floor design. You’ll also see:

Painted door screens from Vietnam. Corner shelves from a bodega in Mexico. Unique dresses, shirts and shorts designed on Harris Ave. Hand-woven bags from India. A snake-man movie poster from Ghana. Witch fingers with crystal warts. Mexican rattles. Vintage lighting. Machine-woven throws. Pillows from Uzbekistan. 

The dressing rooms are a whole other story. 

A friend in the dressing room.

Most of everything is for sale, wholesale or retail, including the gold-leaf wall paper, with snakes. “It’s all in my head,” Segal says.  “It’s shocking.” 

Segal, 42, who got his MFA from RISD in 2009, has a studio with two employees on Harris Ave.  He has sold to Urban Outfitters and ModCloth and fills about 2,000 online orders a year.

Segal’s “Pretty Snake line,” RISD writes,  “is known for its original textiles and unique prints that go viral.”  He appeared on Bravo’s Project Runway last fall and a writer for The Cinemaholic called his work “wearable masterpieces.”

At prettysnake.com you can buy a cobra T-shirt for $58,

a polo shirt for  $140 and a “black linen freak of nature shirt dress” for $112.

But up until now, Segal was separated from many of his customers. Online sales are fine, he said, but “I wanted to see how people react.”  

The showroom opened July 13, where Lore used to be. His friend and fellow RISD grad Lindsay Degen opened the Knit Club next door.  (Story to come.)

Segal’s Pretty Snake is open Fridays from 12 to 6, Saturdays from 11-6, by appointment and other days, when Segal just might be there.  He lives around the corner on Sheldon Street.