Ayumi Kajikawa Piland was born in Saitama prefecture, Japan in 1974 and moved to the U.S. after high school. She found her passion in art and graduated from Kendall College of Art & Design in Michigan with BFA majoring in illustration in 1999. With her husband Aaron, she started a creative team APAK Studio.  After living in Oakland, CA and Saitama, Japan, they stumbled upon Portland in 2005. Since then they mainly work as a team APAK on paintings for galleries all over the world. They live happily like hermits with their dogs, Ocho & P-Nuts among giant fir trees and always appreciate inspiration from their artist friends in town.

Besides working on fun projects as APAK, she works individually as an illustrator and painter as well. Her work usually illustrate the relationship of human and animal with a touch of sweetness and subtle humor. One of her main focus is designing and selling her greeting cards. Her cards have been well appreciated and shared all over the world. Publishers like Little Otsu and Chronicle Books have also published her greeting cards. Feel free to contact her if you are looking for art commissions to make you smile or just want to say hi.