About VANTA | Australian Design Atelier & Architectural Metalwork

Steel Statements. Fine metal design for bold visions.

FROM SKIN TO STEEL

VANTA was born from a single line.

Long before steel became the medium, founder and creative director Brea Lanyon spent more than twelve years creating permanent works through tattooing. Every commission required complete trust, absolute precision and the confidence to make decisions that would remain for a lifetime. Through thousands of conversations and countless hours drawing directly onto the body, she developed a way of designing that placed story before aesthetics, intention before execution, and permanence above trend.

Over time, that philosophy began asking for a different scale.

Steel offered the opportunity to create work that could outlive the body. It could become part of architecture, define landscapes, shape the spaces where people gather and remain long after those who first experienced it were gone. The question evolved from preserving memory on skin to preserving memory in place.

What moments are worth making permanent?

That question became the foundation of VANTA.

The name VANTA draws inspiration from Vantablack, reflecting the bold black linework that defined Brea’s tattoo practice and the dialogue between light and shadow that continues to shape the studio’s work. Every collection explores balance: strength and elegance, structure and movement, permanence and transformation. That visual language has become unmistakably VANTA, carried through sculptural forms, architectural interventions and functional objects with the same flowing confidence that first defined her work on skin.

Raised in regional Victoria, Brea’s creative perspective was shaped long before she entered a studio. Growing up among farmland, changing seasons and agricultural communities fostered a deep respect for craftsmanship, resilience and the quiet beauty of objects made to endure. The rhythms of planting, harvest and renewal revealed that meaningful work is rarely rushed. It is cultivated through patience, care and an understanding that what lasts is built with intention.

Today, VANTA creates architectural metalwork, sculpture and functional design that sits at the intersection of art, architecture and personal narrative. Every commission begins with listening. Every drawing begins by hand. Every work is resolved through a process that values proportion, rhythm, material honesty and the emotional experience of living with an object over its lifetime. Whether creating a large-scale public installation, a private architectural commission or an object held around the table, each work carries the same recognisable design language while responding uniquely to the people and places it is created for.

The practice is guided by three enduring principles:

Precision. Permanence. Presence.

These principles shape every decision, from the first sketch through to fabrication and installation, creating works that feel quietly confident, deeply considered and built to endure.

In an increasingly disposable world, VANTA exists to create objects that are lived with, remembered and passed from one generation to the next. The practice is driven by a belief that design has the power to strengthen our relationship with place, deepen the rituals that shape our lives and preserve the stories that matter most.

Every commission begins with understanding. From there, material, form and craftsmanship work together to create something that carries meaning beyond function.

Each body of work has become a chapter in an evolving practice.

Isolation explored stillness and introspection.

Renascence marked a period of renewal and the first foundations of VANTA.

Skin to Steel documented the philosophy behind the transition from tattooing into contemporary design before becoming the studio’s debut exhibition.

Harvest: The Architecture of Abundance, presented as part of Melbourne Design Week 2026, expanded that philosophy through sculpture, exploring agriculture, resilience and the rituals that connect people to the land.

The practice now continues into Table, a collection exploring the ritual of dining through finely crafted objects designed to elevate everyday gathering.

Beyond this, the next chapter, CEREMONY, expands the practice into architecture, spatial design and immersive experiences, exploring devotion, memory and the enduring role design plays in marking life’s most meaningful moments.