Iqaluit firm uses 3D printing for historical and high-tech products

Business owner eyes distribution of custom-made Inuit products across Canada and the world

Kirt Ejesiak shows some of his finished products made by 3D printing at his Apex studio, including Inuit snow goggles, a replica of a qulliq and 3D hands for jewelry. (Photo by Livete Ataguyuk)

By Livete Ataguyuk

Kirt Ejesiak can trace the origins of his Iqaluit-based business back to the days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was difficult to manufacture things locally due to public health restrictions.

“We couldn’t do anything so I thought, why not design and develop beautiful things with a help of a 3D printer?” said the president and CEO of Apex 3D, a full-service design, scanning and printing company.

A 3D printer produces three-dimensional objects by layering together thin, different-sized pieces of materials that can range from paper to plastics or composites.

Apex 3D is using the technology to produce items that range from industrial parts to archeological pieces that are of historical significance.

“I wanted to create things that are beautiful and literally take the stuff that is sitting in museums and make it available to my kids and everybody else,” Ejesiak said.

The company has also used 3D printing to produce pieces for drones, parts for fittings and saws, and custom ulu-shaped handles for cabinetmakers.

The business is equipped with Statasys Origin One and FDM 3D printers. Ejesiak is the lone employee, although he sometimes hires contractors to help him.

He said the focus now is on distributing his creations across Canada, but the goal of Apex 3D is to reach markets around the world to provide shops with goods manufactured in Iqaluit by Inuit.

He offers the example of producing custom-made replicas of 1,000-year-old Inuit goggles that could be sold at shops across Canada and the U.S.

“If they want to think about Inuit, they would want a pair of these beautifully designed Inuit goggles,” he said of his potential customers.

Ejesiak said Apex 3D is marketing those to gauge people’s interest in purchasing them as well as other replicas of historical items that were used by Inuit on Baffin Island.

“We want to introduce that again and, say, stuff that Inuit used 100 years ago we can now manufacture them again on a large scale,” he said.

Ejesiak compared working with 3D printing as being “like magic.”

“The scan is just the start,” Ejesiak said.

“You can add textures, you could add lenses to this old tech, you can use fancy lights, you can create night goggles with traditional Inuit goggles.”

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(1) Comment:

  1. Posted by S on

    Congratulations on your creativity and persistence, Kirt. Have a good life

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