Lumino Press

Lumino Press offers graphic design services and consultation on a book, portfolio and specialized marketing projects by John Balkwill.

We serve a variety of clients, both individuals and businesses, who are seeking design work of a certain quality and integrity—informed by a knowledge and interest in the history of printing and graphic design..

Letterpress printing and other production services are now offered through Boone Graphics in Goleta, California

For letterrpress printing production we operate three different presses and are able to achieve a wide range of production capabilities. A late model Heidelberg windmill press is for larger runs, a Vandercook UNI cylinder press for fine limited edition printing, and a classic Chandler & Price jobbing platen press for short runs of wedding invitations, notecards and envelopes.

As a “book arts studio” we can produce books of all kinds: from handbound limited editions to the design of print-on-demand books. We specialize in custom presentation books and boxes for artists, designers, photographers and architects.

John Balkwill

The Lumino Press is operated in Santa Barbara by John Balkwill, who received a BA in English Literature from the University of Notre Dame and an MFA from the Institute for the Book Arts, the University of Alabama, where he studied letterpress printing with the internationally recognized private press printer Gabriel Rummonds.

Balkwill has designed and printed limited editions in collaboration with numerous well-known artists and authors including Pulitzer prize-winning writers Gary Snyder, Daniel J. Boorstin and James McPherson, and by the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. He has collaborated on artist’s books and portfolios with Jacquelyn McBain, Mark Ryden, Mary Heebner, Peter Goin among others, as well as with various galleries and collectors.

Balkwill is available to consult on a wide range of book and graphic design projects.