VAANYARD was launched in Sydney just prior to the pandemic. The vision of an urban architect and a fashion marketer, the brand rapidly came to fruition and has already earned its place in the international market. mivision caught up with founder creatives Lee Kan and Paul Gilligan to talk about what they’ve learned along the way, how they’re travelling, and the markets they’re expanding into.

Paul Gilligan, Nathan McGuire, and Lee Kan.

Q. Can you remind our readers about how and why you started VAANYARD?

PG: We both have a love of design, fashion and the beauty of the materials and elements that go into making high end eyewear. It’s actually a beautiful process and the outcome, once all the elements come together, scratch all of our itches so to speak.

Q. How many optical doors do you now sell through and what is your geographic reach?

PG: It seems like many brands find some success then go all out to maximise their return by stocking unsustainable numbers of doors, which is generally bad in terms of brand management. Conversely, it’s our philosophy to not over distribute VAANYARD – instead, our aim is to hold a tight distribution. So in Australia, we currently have around 40 active stockists across both the optical and fashion channels.

Internationally, we have significantly more accounts than we do in Australia, with stockists in Scandinavia, Europe, South Africa and throughout Asia. We see the international market as our biggest opportunity in terms of scale.

LK: We definitely work on the premise of quality over quantity, and it is important for us to be in the right retailers.

Q. You’ve been in business for more than two years now. Looking back, how would you describe the past few years?

PG: Since neither of us came from the optical industry (me being from fashion and Lee from architecture), we were faced with a steep learning curve.

Besides learning to navigate the crazy challenges of COVID during our launch year, we’ve learned a lot about the industry and how it works. It’s been rewarding to work closely with our stockists and to anticipate what we can add to their business.

LK: When you run your own business, you experience all the ups and downs pretty much immediately and very personally. We’ve learnt to celebrate every win, no matter how big or small. We learn from them all, and they are what keeps us going.

Q. What have you learned about yourselves?

PG: I have to say, building a small business is a billion times more challenging than I ever expected. I’ve had to learn resilience and patience, and I’ve had to learn to enjoy aspects of running a business that I would never previously have felt comfortable in. I’ve been forced to become more confident in questioning what’s presented to me and in asserting myself when chasing a particular outcome.

Perhaps most rewarding of all, I’ve become increasingly confident in our creative concepts and selling them into retail. It’s one thing to have an idea, but it’s another to go ahead and have it manufactured – you have to live and die by your decision. And while that can be nerve-racking, it’s also incredibly rewarding – every achievement is the result of years and months and days of intense thought and effort.

LK: I’ve always buried myself in design – I love the process. But until VAANYARD, I’ve been siloed in roles that have purely focussed on design and concepts. So now I’ve found my confidence in developing and presenting those designs and concepts to manufacturers and customers.

I’ve also learned about the day-to-day activity of running a business – and I’ve become more comfortable with it – this is something that I never expected to happen. I definitely never expected that it would be enjoyable!

Q. How has your target market changed; and how has this influenced your designs?

PG: We initially created the brand as a male orientated offer; we designed styles that both Lee and I would like to wear – styles that would appeal to creative types, who are fashion conscious and find inspiration in beautiful objects. Interestingly, our customer base these days is very much a unisex audience, with a 50/50 gender split. This was quite unintentional, but we’ve embraced it and the brand’s development reflects this.

Even so, every aspect of VAANYARD continues to be a reflection of who we are; what we are inspired by and drawn towards.

LK: We are very comfortable with the position we are holding: masculine/unisex styles that many women also like. We’re also starting to introduce a selection of colours that are slightly skewed towards the unisex side, but in saying that, we will never be a very feminine brand, and I think that’s okay.

Q. You collaborated with Solid Ochre (an emerging fashion label by top First Nations model Nathan McGuire) – how did this influence your approach to design, and have you got any more collabs coming up that you can talk about?

LK: I love the idea of doing collaborations. Creating a strong and consistent brand, especially this early in the life of the brand, often comes with a set of guidelines that restrict us from exploring other ideas. Collaborations allow us to have a bit of fun. By borrowing elements from our collaboration partner we can create something that is fresh and interesting. It’s that “1+1=3” synergy that really interests me.

PG: It’s a bit hush-hush at this point I’m afraid. Haha… a possible collaboration with a women’s accessory label, possibly an actor/artist, and a collaboration 2.0 with Solid Ochre.

Q. You’re working on a titanium collection – tell us about the designs we can expect to see (and when)?

PG: We are finessing the details as we speak, and we aim to have prototypes and samples by June. If all goes to plan, we’ll be launching during the first quarter of 2026. While this is happening, we will also be launching several new capsules which include new acetate styles and new colour injections.

LK: The overwhelming feedback, that our ‘look’ is something that our customers recognise as our own, has been very rewarding – so why change it?

So that strong and consistent design DNA that we have established through our current acetate styles, which we refer to it as ‘Basic Plus’, will carry through to the titaniums… but in slightly different ways.

Q. What does titanium enable you to achieve that can’t be achieved with other materials?

PG: While our acetate designs tend to be quite bold, the titanium collection allows us the opportunity to play with an alternative aesthetic. The fun part is making this happen yet still maintaining our unique look.

LK: Titanium is intrinsically a very different material to acetate, which allows us to do something quite different. I love the lightness, the flexibility, and also the possibility to create very intricate details. We are very excited to present a different side to the brand, while still maintaining the strong VAANYARD DNA we have created.

Q. Where will these new frames be manufactured?

PG: They will be manufactured in Sabae, Japan, next to our acetates. We have seen some of our factory’s current titanium products and they do a magnificent job, and they are fantastic to work with.

Q. And finally, what excites you about the market – and your place in it – going forward?

PG: Everyone says the market is quiet at the moment. As a relatively new brand, we’re still in the growth stage and our view is that while it’s definitely not booming, if you scratch below the surface there is space to carve out a loyal customer base. You just have to work a bit harder, a bit smarter.

For us, the biggest potential is in the international markets, especially Asia, where our bold yet minimal aesthetic is in demand among well-travelled consumers – they like our point of difference. From a practical perspective, our Asian fit titanium nose-pads have already helped us secure a strong niche market in Asia.

LK: We’ve just come back from Sabae, where we met with our frame manufacturers. While we were there, we also met with potential distributors, did some product viewings and some media interviews. It looks like we’ve got a new distributor lined up that is really going to establish our presence in Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore. Having taken such a leap of faith to jump into the market back in 2020, I’m now so excited about the future – and our potential to design and innovate which is being secured by our growing markets overseas and in Australia.

Visit: vaanyard.com