Cowling & Wilcox

I absolutely love this place. It has all the supplies you could possibly desire (for me it’s the Letraset pens at £1.50!) and the prices are so reasonable, especially considering the location. The staff are friendly and helpful, but give you your space to browse at leisure. Would massively recommend.

An artists must. We are only as good as out tools and Cowling and Wilcox help us be better. Although they can accommodate digital they are best at Specialist Fine and Graphic Art supplies. I am the type of person who needs to see what I am getting when I venture for something new– but they do deliver, which is great for those tried and true supplies you will always need and are constantly running out of. They are usually well stocked and offer deals (Student and so on).

This is my emergency kids birthday present supplies shop — whenever the kids friends at school have a birthday we normally pick up something interesting here — with guaranteed parental approval. They always have something suitable in their discount section — great for Christmas stocking fillers as well. We are a little spoilt with this and Paintworks 5 mins up the road. Staff are friendly and helpful — really nice card selection. They always seem to play some great tunes whenever I visit. I do have to steer the kids away from the more serious arty kit though which seems a little pricey — always plenty of bargains to keep them happy though in the discount sections…

Well stocked and offering a student discount, Cowling & Wilcox got a lot of use for my student exhibitions. Now, I mainly visit them for pens, notebooks and their fantastic selection of greeting cards. It’s not the most budget friendly, but for the selection and the staff’s ability to help me find what I need, I continue to go back for more.

What annoys me most abotu C&W is that they seem incapable of publishing the opening hours on their shoddy website. Beyond that they always play the same damned 70’s rock CD on the in-​store music system. What else?
Well besides the heft prices others talk of, and the frequent deals and student discounts, hey are a relatively well stocked art supply store, though if you liek to shop about you might want to check out paint works further up Kingsland Rd, a mere 5 minute short walk.

Pretty good art shop if you have to do some urgent last minute shopping, but that may leave you with quite a hefty bill (despite the discounts.)

Bewarned, you always walk out with more than you intend. This is a very solid art supply shop, which also works well for weekend craft warriors like myself. I come here for paper, pens, paper cutters, craft punches and to ogle the pretty messenger bags and moleskines. They have kits for trying out different crafts as well, which make for good presents. They also have a decent selection of japanese pens. You can definitely while away some time just wandering through the store dreaming up things to do with all their supplies.

Wandering around Cowling and Wilcox makes me long to be an arty type, someone with some real creativity that could put all these chalks and canvases to goo use. Unfortunately I never got much further than the Blue Peter school of glitter glue so a lot of the stock in this shop goes a bit over my head.
Sticking to what I can understand, Cowling and Wilcox has a really nice card and gift selection with a bit more personality than anything you’ll find in Clinton’s. The writing sets are particularly stylish although they can be quite expensive. Similarly, they have a great selection of Moleskin diaries and books but these can cost anything upwards of £15. On the other hand they have a great selection of arty presents for kids which all seem very reasonably priced and a lot of fun too for that matter! I defy anyone to be too old for face-​paints.
Cowling and Wilcox is a lovely shop which is well worth a look around if you’re in need of anything a bit arty or looking for a more personal present for that difficult someone.

This is a great little art shop in Shoreditch High Street. They have a good supply of coloured paper, pens, sketch books, paint, and brushes.
They have a great selection of glitter at £2.50 a pot for all your display and card needs.
Whenever I have been in here the staff have been more than willing to help you find what you are looking for. Thumbs up.
They have a sale on paper at the moment £3.99 for a pack of basic printing paper.

I could spend hours in art shops. I always end up spending a fortune. It is just something about new paper and sketch books and paints.
Mindlessly wandering through the store, picking up colourful bottles and textured paper. The mind can run wild with new ideas.
Cowling and Wilcox is a huge store situated on Shoreditch High Street. They have everything from portfolios, to canvas, paints, spray paint, paper, printer ink cartridges and much more. A light and airy shop pack fill of supplies all organised clearly on shelves and stands making for easy spending.
It is a little on the expensive side, however the quality and quantity of supplies is impressive. Especially if it is a final year portfolio or important presentation.
To top it off the staff are very helpful and inspiring if stuck for colour choices or alternative solutions to presentation.

My neighborhood art supply studio. This is probably the place I most frequent, especially one the way to my studio. Though small, as art supply stores are concerned, great deals are abundant. They sell Windsor Newton paints at a cost you will not find any where else in London. I always stock up on them here. Additionally, they have great deals on pre-​stretched canvases. If you are an artist and live close by, this is a store that you need to frequent.

Cowling and Wilcox is a rare beast within Shoreditch: a genuinely useful shop. Having been around since the 1960s, Cowling and Wilcox only recently opened on Shoreditch High Street, and boy are us locals glad they did.
Famously devoid of shops that sell actually useful stuff, finding a veritable emporium of fine art and design materials in this, the most impractical of boroughs is quite the God-​send.
Not being an artist myself I frequent C&W for things like birthday cards, packaging materials and picture frames and their friendly and knowledgeable staff are nothing short of refreshing.

Having recently moved to London — world famous city of art — I was suprised at the lack of art supplies shops. Somehow in my naivety, I was expecting them to be popping up all around the place. Anyway, this is a fine shop along Shoreditch High St (just take a left outside Liverpool Street and keep walking). It’s got everything you need — stretched canvas of all sizes, unstretched canvas, paints, design materials, pens, stationery — the lot! Also, it’s not as cramped as some other art shops I’ve happened upon. Plus, there’s a sale on now.