Duetta
By Elizabeth Dehn
Photo by David J. Turner
5005 Penn Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-929-2325
Had Alice slipped down the rabbit hole to Duetta, a tiny new shop in south Minneapolis, she would’ve found lovelies beyond her wildest imagination. At Duetta, longtime friends and owners Tabitha Courtemanche and Julie Louris create a fantasy world of pretty finds. They fill the store with trinkets, gifts, and home accessories from Paris, Spain, and their über-creative local designer friends—like Joni Wheeler, who crafts fanciful papered cones, and Krista Stout, who makes letterpress coasters and note cards. Everything at Duetta tends toward the vintage, the Victorian, and the shabby-chic. It’s nearly impossible to distinguish what’s old from what’s new, and it doesn’t matter; you’ll want every dainty, delicate thing within these lemony-lime walls. But this isn’t granny’s attic. Even a doily would be unrecognizable here because Courtemanche and Louris have a way of embellishing everything they touch. They turn phonographs into flower-blossom lamps, menu cards into art, and old matchboxes into perfect party favors. They also adorn everything, everything, with ribbon. It’s little details like these that make Duetta so enchanting.
