Based in what was once the heart of east London’s print industry, the London Centre for Book Arts (LCBA) is an artist-run, open-access studio offering education programmes for the community and affordable access to resources for artists and designers.
The Centre’s mission is to foster and promote book arts and artist-led publishing in the UK through collaboration, education, distribution, and by providing open-access to printing, binding and publishing facilities.
The unique facilities at LCBA are available to everyone regardless of background, education or experience.
After several years of planning and acquiring hard-to-find equipment and machinery, the studio was established in October 2012, becoming the first and only centre of its kind in the country.
Our Story
Although we’ve grown since first opening our doors, we remain a small, independent organisation, and most of the day-to-day is still managed between the two of us, Simon Goode and Ira Yonemura along with a small but dedicated team.
From the start, we took a pragmatic approach to running the studio: keeping things small, staying independent, and prioritising community and friendships. The personality of the studio comes from the marriage of our backgrounds and interests.
Simon (Wolverhampton, UK) studied Book Arts and Crafts at the London College of Communication (LCC) and was lucky enough to have been taught by the last of the trade bookbinders, printers and print finishers on a course that emphasised a practical and craft-based approach to ‘book arts’.
Ira (Kagoshima, Japan), meanwhile, studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and began working with other artists who saw books and publishing as an extension of their practices; and self-organisation and collaboration as their de facto model of working.
Visit us, get a Studio Pass, or browse our online shop.
LCBA is a Living Wage Foundation-accredited employer. Learn more here.
Our books:
Making Books: A Guide to Making Hand-crafted Books by the London Centre for Book Arts (Pavilion Books, 2017)
Books: Art, Craft & Community (Ludion, 2021)