Our Studio

Based in the Pacific Northwest and Kamakura, Japan, The Arts & Crafts Press was founded in 1996 by Yoshiko Yamamoto and Bruce Smith. We specialize in crafting letterpress printed note cards and limited-edition block prints. We work with the belief that art is not an object, it is a way of life. We strive to create things of beauty by using our head, our heart, and our hands.

Begun as a publishing house concerned with the historic Arts and Crafts movement, all the publications of The Arts and Crafts Press have been letterpress printed and bound by hand. Over the years Press has been developing a whole line of letterpress-printed greeting cards and limited-edition woodblock prints using Yoshiko's designs.

Now Yoshiko lives in Kamakura, Japan and frequently returns to US for her art exhibitions, talks, and presentations. She is pursuing making woodblock prints in Japan and would love to share with you the joy of creative journey.

Books by Yoshiko & Bruce about the Arts & Crafts movement

Beautiful Necessity: Decorating with Arts & Crafts, Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1996, written by Bruce Smith & Yoshiko Yamamoto

Arts & Crafts Ideals, 1999, compiled by Bruce Smith & Yoshiko Yamamoto

Japanese Bath, 2001, Gibbs Smith Publisher, written by Bruce Smith & Yoshiko Yamamoto

Greene & Greene Masterworks, Chronicle Books, written by Bruce Smith

Greene & Greene: Developing a California Architecture, Gibbs Smith Publisher, written by Bruce Smith

Books Yoshiko Illustrated:

Audrey Sutherland's Paddling North (Patagonia Press, 2015)

Audrey Sutherland's Paddling my Own Canoe (Patagonia Press, to be published in June 2017)

We have been featured on the City of Tacoma's video series "artTown: artist & place." We no longer have this studio, but enjoy watching and taking a virtual tour of our letterpress.