Craig Stanghetta doesn’t like to think of himself as an interior designer. This might be hard to believe if ever you’ve found yourself slipping into a fried rice–induced coma in the Sino-French glow of Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie, the first room in a growing list of spaces pinned to his name. Stanghetta prefers the word “facilitator”. Though he receives most of the credit as creative director, his spaces—including Revolver Coffee and the not-so-vegetarian-friendly Meat & Bread—are the result of an intense collaborative effort between himself, a handful of talented artists, designers and tradespeople and, most importantly, his clients.
Each unique space is an orchestration of cost-effective objects and materials found and fabricated locally, because, let’s face it, small-business owners don’t always have stacks of Borden’s to burn on cutting-edge design. Elements readily considered pedestrian, such as security glass or an array of mismatched knives, find an unexpected elegance in a new context. Stanghetta’s talent lies in his ability to create a room that is “a simple extension of the person or people that own [it],” he says. Perhaps this indirectly creates something that is uniquely “Vancouver”, reminding us that we need not compare ourselves to London, New York or (heaven forbid) Toronto.
Photo: Phoebe Glasfurd.
