Andre Chaves was born in Brazil, far away from the worlds of Arts and Crafts and fine printing. However, upon receiving a scholarship from the American Fields Service Exchange Student Program, he spent a year with a family in East Aurora, New York, home of the Roycrofters. Unfortunately, 1966 marked the nadir of interest in the Arts and Crafts movement, even in East Aurora. Returning to Brazil, he completed his medical studies; did his residency in Baltimore, Md., and on to Miami for a fellowship in hand surgery. He married Ann, a fellow East Aurora student from his high school days, and the couple eventually settled in Pasadena.
Contact with the Arts and Crafts movement took place gradually over the years -- a little Stickley here, a little Greene and Greene there -- but in the late 1980s, the couple bought the Duncan-Irwin House, designed by the Greene brothers, and went deeply into the Arts and Crafts world. During the decade that they lived there, Peter Hay, owner of Book Alley Bookshop, inspired the formation of a printing group, which stored a growing array of presses in the Chaves's garage. Clinker Press was born. The press continues to operate today, now located in Tualatin, Oregon, just south of Portland, with a focus on books and broadsides related to the Arts and Crafts movement.
Andre is a frequent lecturer on topics related to the history of printing and Arts and Crafts. He has lectured at the Arts and Crafts Conference in Asheville, North Carolina, at the Double Crown Club in London, and at the Alcuin Society in Canada.