America’s Best Independent Design Shops: Stranger & Co.

For her store in Edina, Minnesota, founder Maura Doyle seeks out brands led by women and people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ folks.

America’s Best Independent Design Shops: Stranger & Co.

For her store in Edina, Minnesota, founder Maura Doyle seeks out brands led by women and people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ folks.

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.

"I try to find brands and underrepresented folks who may not have been handed a lot of opportunities," Doyle says.

Photo: Cameron Wittig

"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.

Photo: Cameron Wittig

Maura Doyle runs Stranger & Co.

Maura Doyle runs Stranger & Co. "I try to find brands and underrepresented folks who may not have been handed a lot of opportunities," Doyle says.

Photo: Cameron Wittig

See the full story on Dwell.com: America’s Best Independent Design Shops: Stranger & Co.
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