Written by Paul Worrall
Derby has an art history worth knowing about before you start looking at where to buy supplies. Joseph Wright of Derby — one of the most technically fasinating painters of the eighteenth century — made the city famous for a particular kind of candlelit, dramatically lit scene that nobody else was attempting with the same ambition or consistency. I actually had cause to pass through Derby a couple of years back — I was driving down to a digital marketing conference in Birmingham and took a slight detour because I’d read about the Joseph Wright collection and wanted to see it for myself. I parked up near the market, had a wander around, found the museum and spent about an hour in there. I’m glad I did. The world’s largest collection of his work in one building is something genuinly worth going out of your way for, and Derby itself was more interesting to walk around than I’d expected — the market square, the cathedral quarter, some decent independent shops tucked in around the edges. Not the most dramatic city day I’ve ever had but a proper, honest Midlands town that doesn’t try too hard to be something it isn’t.
I’m Paul Worrall. I spent nearly a decade running digital marketing for ARTdiscount, one of the UK’s largest online art retailers, and I now run Discount Art Supplies — a price comparison platform used by over 36,000 UK artists every week. Here’s the honest picture of what Derby actually offers anyone looking for art supplies. If you’re planning visits to nearby cities, also check out our guides to the best art supply shops in Leicester and the best art supply shops in Nottingham.
1. Abbeycraft Artworld
Abbeycraft Artworld is the genuine independent on this list — an art and craft shop covering an impressively broad spread of disciplines including fine art materials, card making, cross-stitch, Airfix and scale modelling, Humbrol paints, gem art, and a framing service alongside the usual painting and drawing supplies. The combination of proper art materials with hobby and modelling supplies under one roof is one of those things that works considerably better in practise than it sounds on paper — the kind of shop that genuinly has something for everyone in the household rather than narrowly serving one kind of creative.
Reviews consistently describe a shop crammed with genuinly useful stock, staff who will order items not currently held in store, and the kind of atmosphere that makes you want to browse rather than just grab and go. That willingness to source and order is a real differentiator for a small independent — it suggests a shop run by people who take the customer’s needs seriously rather than just their own stock convenience.
Visit Abbeycraft Artworld online →
2. Turners Art — Matlock, Derbyshire
Strictly speaking Turners Art is in Matlock rather than Derby itself — about fifteen miles up the A6 into the Peak District — but it’s close enough to the city and sufficiently significant as a Derbyshire art supplies destination to earn a place here. An independent art shop and materials supplier with a genuinly considered range, it’s the kind of specialist that serves practising artists who know exactly what they want rather than browsers who need pointing at the starter sets.
For Derby-based artists who want professional-grade materials and don’t want to order online, the drive to Matlock through some genuinly beautiful Derbyshire countryside is no hardship. Worth checking their website before making the trip to confirm current stock and opening hours.
3. Hobbycraft Derby
The honest version of Hobbycraft, consistent with every city guide I write: not specialist, not deep in professional-grade range, but genuinly useful for what it is. Hobbycraft Derby covers the usual broad spread of art and craft materials — canvases, basic paint sets, sketchbooks, brushes, seasonal kits, kids’ craft supplies — at prices that don’t make restocking a major financial event. With two young children in my own house who approach art supplies with impressive destructive enthusiasm, I’ve developed a genuine appreciation for a shop where stocking up doesn’t require a lengthy internal debate.
Check our Hobbycraft discount code guide before visiting — the student discount and Blue Light Card discount are both worth knowing about.
4. The Works — Derbion
The Works in the Derbion shopping centre is the honest budget option — not specialist, not deep in range, but genuinly useful for what it is. Canvases, starter paint sets, sketchbooks, pencils, colouring books and craft kits at prices that make experimenting genuinly affordable. Worth knowing that The Works stopped selling online nationally back in March, so the Derby branch — like every other store — is now in-person purchase only. For parents, teachers and anyone wanting to try a new medium without significant financial commitment, it serves a real purpose.
5. Derby Museum and Art Gallery — Worth a Visit
Not a supplies shop, but genuinly the most compelling cultural reason to spend time in Derby as an artist. Derby Museum and Art Gallery holds the world’s largest collection of paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby — the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution, working with extraordinary technical skill in depicting candlelit and firelit scenes that nobody in English art had attempted with comparable ambition before him. Seeing those paintings in person is a masterclass in light, composition and tonal control that no amount of YouTube tutorials replicates.
The museum also holds a rich collection of Derby porcelain, local history and natural history alongside the Wright collection, and entry is free. For any artist visiting Derby who hasn’t built in time for the museum, it’s genuinly the thing worth rearranging the schedule for.
A Note on Art Supplies in Derby
Derby’s art supplies scene is modest for a city of its size and cultural history — the Joseph Wright legacy deserves a more comprehensive specialist retail offering than the city currently has. Abbeycraft Artworld and Turners Art in Matlock carry the genuine independent flag for the region, and between them cover a solid spread of needs. For professional-grade materials and the best current UK prices across all major art retailers, Discount Art Supplies compares prices in real time so you always find the best deal before buying anywhere.
More City Guides
- The Best Art Supply Shops in Leicester
- The 6 Best Art Supply Shops in Nottingham
- Birmingham’s 7 Best Art Supply Shops
- The 7 Best Art Shops in Manchester
- The 6 Best Art Supply Shops in Sheffield
- The Best Art Supply Shops in Plymouth
- The Best Art Supply Shops in Aberdeen
- The Best Art Supply Shops in Belfast
