Design : Featured Stories

Web journalist, Ruby on Rails geek, entrepreneur, and DIY maven Bruno Bornsztein, founder of Curbly.com and a handful of other sites, typifies the tech-savvy business guy circa 2012. But his most intriguing characteristic might be the limit he's put on his ambition.

Crowdfunding powerhouse Kickstarter is becoming the go-to support system for a wider and wider variety of business ventures locally and nationally. Here are three Twin Cities success stories: a wallet, a home-security device, a restaurant--that illustrate how Kickstarter fuses funding, marketing, R and D, and even a kind of before-the-fact customer support.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities.Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: The IFP Minnesota Center for Media Arts lauds James Bakkom, a one-of-a-kind artist who also contributed to some of our region's finest achievements in theater and film.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: A lively lunch at Minneapolis' newest brewpub on its first day--and a first look at Paul's Ball.

The Twin Cities' long tradition of innovation in public green space is continuing, and even ramping up, as park planners invent ways to meet new challenges: ambitious riverfront development plans, changing environmental concerns, the Central Corridor, urban farming, and the needs of new immigrants.

Far from simply decorating the light-rail route, Saint Paul's Central Corridor Public Art Plan is redefining art in the public sphere.

Mike Fitzsimmons and John Grider, AKA Broken Crow, explain how the Irrigate initiative helped get their intense, stylish animal images up on a University Avenue business--helping that business to stand out during light rail construction.

Saint Paul's music-loving mayor wants a city with a scene--a dynamic downtown with the special energy that only art and music provide. Last Thursday he shared some successes, some hopes, and some rock-concert memories with The Line.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: Midway Contemporary Art's library, a genuine hidden treasure.

As new export niches open up, Minnesota companies are selling some unconventional products overseas. Case in point: an inventive, environmentally aware North Minneapolis outfit that creates ADA-compliant interior signage for public buildings--and markets it in China, Brazil, and the Middle East.

How are Minnesota and the Twin Cities doing as film production centers and locations? There have been some major disappointments recently, but new moves give us reason to hope we can lure Hollywood back.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: The sublimely glittery Peace House mural is headed for destruction--and a kind of resurrection.

What can the Twin Cities learn from other communities' success with municipal broadband? For one thing, that "bright cable" has a bright future. For another, that every city's situation is different.

The massive renovation of the Minnesota Orchestra's home is far from over, but that doesn't mean we can't tour the completed Orchestra Hall digitally.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: A wild chalkboard mural full of literary allusions enlivens the SubText bookstore's subterranean Saint Paul space.