Maura Doyle has Marcel Breuer to thank for her obsession with form and function. The owner of Stranger & Co. grew up near the hulking concrete church Breuer designed for Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Doyle’s curatorial tastes were further shaped at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where she studied sculpture. After living in Spain and Australia for a time, she returned to Minnesota to work in local galleries and retail.

“The idea of opening an art- and design-focused shop had been bouncing around in my mind for a number of years, but it always seemed like a pipe dream,” Doyle says. In December of 2019, she took the leap and launched Stranger & Co. online. The following summer, Doyle was invited to open a brick-and-mortar shop in the swanky Nolan Mains development in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina.

The store’s eclectic selection includes a mix of sculptural ceramics, avant-garde coffee table books, imported textiles, and small-batch apothecary goods. Doyle purposely scouts brands helmed by women and people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ people—ideally ones that can’t be bought elsewhere in the Twin Cities. “I try to find things that are sculptural and functional at the same time,” Doyle says. “I’m interested in the line between what is a useful object and what is art.”

Stranger & Co.’s Regional Recommendations

Black History Throw Quilt by Louise Gray

Sinew Series 04 by Zoë Powell Ceramics

Aligned Tapestry by Kristen Kaas

Cream and Sugar Vessels by Eshelman Pottery

4x4 Chair by Brendan Barrett

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