In Business: Ajijaak Creations Now Open in Downtown Bemidji

After two Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe brothers realized that they could put their graphic design backgrounds to use with a laser engraving and screenprinting business, the idea for Ajijaak Creations has now come to life.

After a long renovation process, the Native-owned business finally opened a few weeks ago in downtown Bemidji.

“Ajijaak Creations is a place where you can go to get personalized, creative gifts, unique gifts for people you love,” said co-owner Peter Paquette.

The business is most known for their laser-engraved wood pieces, but there are so many more mediums used in the store than just wood. Some of the pieces on display feature record artwork made with actual playable records.

“The possibilities are really quite endless,” said co-owner Dave Paquette. ” We could do almost anything. That’s what we like to do is the personalization stuff. A lot of this retail stuff is just to fill the space.”

The brothers were raised by parents who owned a store, so they always knew that they wanted to have their own business. Both have a background in graphic design, and they realized that they could bring these skills to the community.

“And we’re trying to kind of help revitalize a little bit of of Bemidji and its downtown district,” explained Peter. “My favorite thing is making people happy. It’s really great because we do a lot of personalization, and if we can take what they’re envisioning and make it, that is awesome.”

One big part of the business is that all of the wood comes from reservation land. They never cut trees down to get wood – instead, the custom creations are all made from trees that are already on the ground due to things like natural causes or storms. The wood is cut down to the proper size, and the designs of each piece is picked out and then loaded into the engraving machine.

“It’s mostly computer work outputting to the laser engraving machine and it following the specifications you put forward to create,” added Dave.

And in addition to the custom pieces at the store, customers can come in with an idea and work with the Paquettes to create the design that they want.

Ajijaak Creations is open to the public now, but the business have an official ribbon-cutting ceremony later in October.