Mise-En-Scene

For Ste. Marie’s Craig Stanghetta, the creator of some of Vancouver’s best-known interiors, design is never far removed from local culture—or personal history.

- Jennifer Van Evra

There is little doubt that a passion for food runs in Craig Stanghetta’s blood. Now based in Vancouver, the founder of design studio Ste. Marie grew up in the small industrial town of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where his French-Canadian grandmother ran a string of diners. His Italian grandfather meanwhile ran the town’s oldest hotel, and had a full canning kitchen in his basement, where Stanghetta and his brother would can tomatoes and help make salami and prosciutto. “We were always around food,” he says. “It was just really part of the culture.”

But it was Stanghetta’s love of theater that would make him one of Vancouver’s most in-demand designers. While studying acting in Toronto, Stanghetta developed a penchant for storytelling, learning how to uncover narratives and use small details to reveal overarching themes— and to this day, that narrative impulse drives everything he and his team create.

“I am always thinking, ‘What’s the story we’re trying to tell? How are people going to understand what this place is? How do the food and the music and the atmosphere interact with the people? The service team, and the style, how does it all tie in to one narrative?’” explains Stanghetta, who uses everyday culture— music, books, movies—to tease out stories that underlie his designs.

Clearly Stanghetta’s thinking has been spot-on. Ste. Marie has created some of the most acclaimed—and best loved—restaurants in Vancouver, a city known for its fiercely competitive and high-caliber culinary scene.