Design : Featured Stories

German-born Katharina (Katie) Eggers has studied politics in Paris, taught in Thailand, and worked as a UN-EU liaison in Brussels. Now this young, internationally connected overachiever is preparing to launch a print magazine that will highlight the Twin Cities' connections to the nation and the world. And she has some pointed things to say about what it's like to be a newcomer in our towns.

Native American trail, gaudy entertainment district, forge of gay consciousness, showcase of the arts: Minneapolis' Hennepin Avenue has been all of these and more. Recently, historians, urbanists, and the public gathered to explore the avenue's colorful history as part of the city's initiative to shape its future.

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 look at an innovative art-and-ideas center in Omaha that we just might want to emulate.

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: five more of my Top Ten Reasons to Visit (and Love) the Twin Cities. It's a list of offbeat but worthy places and happenings that you might miss if you only visit our big-ticket attractions.

He's an architect in a hot firm who also builds model rockets and raises African desert tortoises. She's a psychologist. artist, and author. Their Merriam Park house is as vibrant and unconventional as they are. But getting it built  required convincing the neighborhood that they weren't "the enemy."

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 first five of my Top Ten Reasons to Visit (and Love) the Twin Cities. It's a list of offbeat but worthy places and happenings that you might miss if you only visit our big-ticket attractions.

An aggressive, and unconventional, marketing campaign to keep people coming to Central Corridor businesses during light rail construction in 2011 appears to have paid off in less business decline than expected--and a mood of cautious optimism about the future.

In one magical zone in the Twin Cities, there's a loon made of junk, a chimney covered in shattered glass and ceramic shards, and a place to buy tarantulas. It's called the Central Corridor. Here's a second look at what photographer Bill Kelley and managing editor Jon Spayde picked out last year as they traveled down University Avenue and Washington Avenue, seeking out their favorite offbeat, oddball, one-of-a-kind things.

It's a hip hybrid of retail poster shop, design studio, and coworking space where some of Saint Paul's most entrepreneurial artists gather around--yes!--a big table. And it's a bold move to help build up downtown, too.

The Twin Cities poster scene is flourishing, and one of its epicenters is Big Table Studio in Saint Paul, which Camille LeFevre profiled a couple of weeks ago. Herewith are Managing Photographer Bill Kelley's images of some of his favorite posters on display and for sale at Big Table, by various local artists, celebrating love, evil, beer, bikes, bands, and other exciting facts of life.

One of the major influences on Big Table Studio (see feature above) has been Jenni Undis' Lunalux print shop and paper-goods store in Minneapolis. So we thought it would be opportune to re-run our Lunalux feature from 2011, in which we describe how Undis combines charm and cool, tradition and innovation. (By the way, the other major influence on Big Table is the CoCo coworking space--check out our Big Picture feature below for more on that.)

The local-and-sustainable ethic that's everywhere in the Twin Cities food world is spreading to the holiday gift-shopping scene here--and two unique Minneapolis shops are leading the way.

A couple of distinguished local boutique chocolatiers, one big and one small, are helping holiday chocolate lovers forget the foil-wrapped Santa--with high-cacao-content, eco-conscious, elegant bonbons and truffles.

Following our selection of some favorite public artworks in Saint Paul two weeks ago, here is our take on the beautiful and the quirky in Minneapolis outdoor art--minus the Spoonbridge and Cherry, which is terrific but a little overexposed. It's just a taste of the richness available, designed to get you outside looking at art before the snow flies.

Muralist, public-school teacher, and MCAD professor Elissa Cedarleaf Dahl has a big idea for Minneapolis: a mural program that would engage at-risk kids, create beautiful public art all over the city, and celebrate our neighborhoods and the people who live in them.