Its late afternoon on a sunny Thursday and Craig Stanghetta is seated at the edge of a banquette in Gastowns newest cocktail lounge, the Clough Club. Decked out in a toque and a muted grey Henley under a denim shirt (unbuttoned enough to show off a metal pendant on the end of a chain), hes dressed like almost every other guy in this neighbourhood the hipster uniform that suits struggling artists, baristas and wildly successful graphic artists equally. While his sartorial choices are little more than urban camouflage, the quick-to-smile, gregarious Stanghetta has almost single-handedly changed the design ethos of commercial spaces in Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»by becoming the go-to designer for the neighbourhoods hippest spots.
We obviously dont like to relegate ourselves to any neighbourhood proper, he says, occasionally interrupted by the sounds of hammering and drilling. But we tend to gravitate towards stuff thats rich in character and history. Theres a lot of freebies in character buildings. [And since there arent many of those], this city, we work where they are.
Not a student of the so-called West Coast design sensibility that eco-heavy slickness that still clings to the citys toniest upscale haunts Stanghetta was never a student at all. (Not counting his B.F.A. in theatre from Torontos York University.) A self-styled serious amateur, he puttered around the fringes of design while doing the occasional commission for a friend and working as an actor on the seemingly endless array of American sci-fi TV shows shot in the Lower Mainland.
Given his background, its not surprising that his inspiration stems from storytelling rather than a purely visual context. I think its strongly rooted in narrative: film, theatre, writing, he explains. I think of [my work] as a story. A space has to communicate some sort of narrative, a throughline, the life in the actual building before you got there. That doesnt mean you have to be old-timey or it needs to look like it was from the past. But it should inform the way the space feels.
You also need a clean, contemporary canvas to build from, he continues. Thats when you can get away with the weird pieces and little twists of the unexpected.
While his theories on design have been well received by his clients and their patrons, Stanghetta is an outcast and a controversial figure in Vancouvers otherwise tight-knit design community, where his lack of formal training has ruffled many feathers. I dont know a lot of designers, he admits.
Never was his outsider status more apparent than when he won Best Design at the 2011 Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Restaurant Awards for his very first commercial venture, Bao Bei. The blowback from more established designers was immediate even if another of the rooms he designed, Meat & Bread, was also nominated for the same award. I had a 50-50 chance, he says smiling. But [winning] really helped me, he says, more seriously. And it really was a collaboration with [Bao Bei owner] Tannis [Ling] and [Peckinpaws] Ryan Murfitt.
Success at Bao Bei and Meat & Bread led to Stanghetta designing the railway-car-like space of Cambie Street coffee mecca Revolver as well as an unbelievably fast and budget-constrained turnaround of Pizzeria Farina inside Main Streets Cobalt Hotel.
But success being what it is, it wasnt long before the big boys started calling, namely restauranteur Jeff Donnelly, whose Donnelly Group owns pubs, bars, nightclubs and lounges from one end of the city to the other. And while a partnership with Donnelly would be a financial and professional windfall, Stanghetta remains suitably circumspect.
Its a huge departure, he admits. And were acutely aware that were known for doing independent stuff. But how do you evolve without being elitist, right? [Donnelly] has a bunch of other places and they have a format that works for them. So do I. As long as theyre willing to give a certain amount of carte blanche, then its a good fit.
