This Minnesota Entrepreneur Designs Wrapping Paper for Everyone

Mahogany Ellis-Crutchfield really loves wrapping gifts. (She once had a just-right pattern custom-printed for a friend's birthday present.) But she noticed that there was a hole in the market for high-quality paper with diverse designs—and thus, Giftywrap was born.

To design her 100-percent-recyclable wrapping papers, Ellis-Crutchfield seeks out local artists who can bring a point of view different from the one-size-fits-all offerings at large retailers. Her collection (sold in 10-foot rolls) includes American Sign Language, Lunar New Year motifs, Black Santas and more. "We all have amazing cultures and ways we celebrate," she says. "I wanted to make sure everyone felt represented when celebrating."

Ellis-Crutchfield, who lives in the Twin Cities metro, also sells patterns that celebrate her home state, with pine trees, plaid shirts and you betchas. "Minnesota is a special place. Great city vibes, great wilderness, and we're a melting pot here. I had to put that spin on it," she says.

When she's wrapping a gift herself, Ellis-Crutchfield likes to dress up bows with found objects or aromatic accents like acorns, pine cones, baked orange slices and cinnamon sticks. But she knows that merely wrapping a gift at all is a meaningful gesture: "In the age of gift bags, if you're going to spend the time to actually wrap a gift, it's special. When someone does that, it's like expressing a love language."