His early years were much influenced by time spent observing the artistic community built by Alan Caiger-Smith at the Aldermaston Pottery.

After studying Political Science at Leeds University founded the Glassworks Studio as an atelier and production house for his commissioned and personal work.

As a portrait artist, Lyon has photographed a diverse range of public figures from Queen Elizabeth II, four British Prime Ministers, actor Bill Nighy[4] and film director Fernando Meirelles.

[7] After the millennium he turned his attention to his artwork and produced bodies of work on globalisation and science, such as: the BRIC's, Exodus,[8] Timeout[9] and Intersection,[10] Optogenome and Fuel series.

In this work his studio creates books and exhibitions that study nominated groups of people in specified geographies through the lens of portraits, app-based image-activated soundscapes and ancestral DNA maps.