Ste Marie Brings Apartment Logic to Monos HQ in Vancouver

Canadian interiors studio Ste Marie has organised the Vancouver headquarters of luggage brand Monos into three overlapping zones that "expand and contract" between work, meals and events. The office sits in the city's Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. Monos commissioned it to reflect the brand's development to date and leave room for continued growth.

Ste Marie received an open-ended brief. That let the studio build a "flexible framework" for a company that, in its own framing, is "still exploring what it could become". The space had to let the team collaborate, experiment and host.

"Monos is a brand grounded in design, mindfulness, human connection, and we understood this as an opportunity to create a place where those values could be put into practice," said Ste Marie.

"A place where their people could come together to work, create, exchange ideas, test new things, host events and gather as an extended community."

Why treat an office like an apartment?

Ste Marie approached the workplace like a residential project. It's a repeat relationship: the studio previously designed the interiors for a Monos store on Ossington in Toronto.

"Like an apartment, it accommodates everyday activity as naturally as moments of hosting," said the studio. "The residential quality also supports Monos' culture of openness."

The first area holds low, soft modular sofas for lounging and conversation. Enclosed banquettes sit below conical pendant lights, framing personal exchanges, small meetings or shared meals.

An elongated communal table anchors the centre of the open plan. It serves as a flexible surface for meetings, product development, testing, dining and gathering. Custom millwork (built-in cabinetry) here runs in perpendicular planes, forming vertical supports and horizontal overhead light boxes.

At the back, a kitchen and tea room carries solid-surface counters and handleless cabinets. The minimalist schema continues throughout.

What does this change for the daily workflow?

Plenty, if the studio's scenario list holds: "a meeting can become a meal, a work surface can become a display, and a lounge can transform into an event space," Ste Marie said.

The material palette balances hard and soft. Polished concrete flooring and rift-cut timber millwork meet soft furnishings, natural-fibre rugs and sheer curtains.

Dimmable lighting lets the mood shift across the day — early-morning focused work, casual afternoon meetings, then evening events. That daily arc was an explicit design driver, alongside simplicity.

"The result is a workplace that feels considered but not overly designed, with the warmth and informality of a personal space and the flexibility of a creative studio," said Ste Marie.

A studio built on hospitality

Craig Stanghetta founded Ste Marie, which has built a reputation for cinematic hospitality spaces across North America. Recent work includes a trio of atmospheric hospitality venues in Edmonton, amenity spaces inside a renovated 1960s office tower in Chicago, and a Vancouver restaurant influenced by Hong Kong's "love motels".

The Monos HQ extends that hospitality toolkit into the workplace — and signals that a brand still "exploring what it could become" now has an interior designed to absorb whatever comes next.