Ido Yoshimoto (b. 1978) is a California-based artist whose work is rooted in the forests and landscape of West Marin. Before turning to art, he spent over two decades working as an arborist, developing a deep understanding of the structure, growth, and life cycles of trees — a knowledge that continues to inform his sculptural practice.

Working with salvaged and locally sourced wood, Yoshimoto creates both sculptural and functional pieces that respond directly to the inherent qualities of each material. His process is intuitive and material-led, shaped by close observation and gradual intervention, allowing the grain, scars, and irregularities of the wood to guide the final form. Through a balance of precise geometric cuts and organic expression, his work reveals the tension between control and natural growth.

His sculptures act as a bridge between the built environment and the wild, inviting a renewed awareness of material, time, and transformation. Yoshimoto’s work has been exhibited internationally, with recent presentations in California and Japan, and he has lectured at Cranbrook Academy of Art and taught at the California College of the Arts. He is the recipient of the Pirkle Jones Foundation Award and was an artist in residence at The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.

1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

Inverness, CA.

2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

The world and the art world were never separate in my mind. Growing up, art, objects, beauty, and function all blended together without too much definition. I remember my father working in his studio. He made ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, useful objects, and also repaired things.

3. Have you always worked in the art/design field ?

Yes, I’ve been surrounded by art and had some version of an art practice. Before I was a professional artist, I worked as an arborist — I sculpted trees. I think that almost any practice can have the elements of art and design.

4. What led you to the design creation ?

My current practice just sort of evolved from living here in Inverness, being surrounded by artists, working with the materials from the environment, and then a lot of practice and dedication — hours spent with the material.

5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

I spend a great deal of time thinking, sitting with the material and the idea, before anything tangible happens or any tools are picked up. My work begins mentally, considering the inherent perfection of natural materials and how they might be altered to exist within a human world.

The process is about introducing something natural into a non-natural space and understanding what kind of impact it can have there. It takes time to clarify what I want that impact to be. While there is deep consideration for the material itself, its properties, limits, and best possible use, I’m equally attentive to how the finished piece might feel to be around, how it changes your experience of a space when encountered in a new way.

6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?

I wake up early because I have a toddler, so the day gets going right away. I’m a physical person, so I like to get moving in the morning. I’ll make coffee, then go chop firewood for the house or start on a project outside. We just built a house, and so it’s an endless project with something always to work on.

I typically then head to my studio around 8:30 am and stay until 5 or so. Because my work requires a lot of physical demand, I try to balance what I do throughout the week, and every day and every week is pretty different. Some days I focus on drawing and designing, some days it’s carving for 8 hours straight, and some days it’s sanding and oiling. I try to avoid working on multiple projects at once and instead focus on one at a time, finish it, get it out of the studio, then start another.

7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

I work with wood from Northern California because I am from here and have the experience with it — I know and understand it really well and feel connected to it.

8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

I make a lot of tools or alter existing tools and use them in unconventional ways to make the work. What I need for each piece is always different. I’m obsessive compulsive about accuracy and geometry — I spend a lot of time checking lines and curves, leveling… for example, I may make the thinnest possible line for a marking for a cut so there’s the highest chance for accuracy.

9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

Strive for perfection, you’ll never get there, but if you try as hard as you can, you’ll keep getting closer.

10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?

–

11. What designers and artists have influenced you ?

There are so many… Noguchi, Brancusi, Giacometti, JB Blunk, Scarpa, Albers, Martin Puryear, amongst others…

12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?

Andrea Zittel, Alma Allen, Dan Anderson, Martino Gamper,  Nobuto Suga.

13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

Andrea Zittel, Alma Allen, Dan Anderson, Martino Gamper,  Nobuto Suga.

14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?

It’s the inspiration of my entire life, plus the particular interest of that exact moment, projected onto materials that are innately beautiful in nature, manipulated so they can be used or experienced in a new human context.

PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)

11. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Dirty words I’d rather not say.

12. Which talent would you most like to have?

–

13. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

More inclined to use modern technology.

14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Building my home.

15. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

Maybe a sea bird.

16. Where would you most like to live?

Anywhere by the ocean.

17. What is your most treasured possession?

–

18. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Hopelessness.

19. What is your favorite occupation?

–

20. What is your most marked characteristic?

Perfectionist.

21. What do you most value in your friends?

Unconditional friendship.

22. Who are your favorite writers?

Kenneth Grahame, Aldo Leopold.

23. Who is your hero of fiction?

–

24. Which historical figure do you most identify with?

–

25. Who are your heroes in real life?

David Attenborough.

26. What are your favorite names?

Short names and androgynous names.

27. What is it that you most dislike?

Litter.

28. What is your greatest regret?

Being born too late.

29. How would you like to die?

Outside.

30. What is your motto?

Live and let live.