Written by Paul Worrall
Dundee has undergone one of the more remarkable urban transformations of any UK city in the last decade — and the waterfront regeneration that produced V&A Dundee is the most visible part of it. The V&A opened in 2018 in a building designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, became the first V&A museum outside London, and attracted over 700,000 visitors in its first year. That’s not a tourist attraction bolted onto a city that happened to be nearby. That’s a genuinly world-class institution planted in a city with Dundee’s particular creative DNA — home to the Dundee College of Art since 1892, to Dundee Contemporary Arts since 1999, to the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and to a games development scene that produced Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto.
My connection to Dundee is indirect but genuine. When I was studying Contemporary Music at UCLan in Preston, there was a lad on the course who was clearly in the wrong place — he spent more time sketching in the margins of his lecture notes than he ever did thinking about music theory. He left after the first year and ended up at Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee’s art college, which by all accounts was exactly where he was supposed to be. I lost touch with him years ago but I’ve thought about that particular pivot whenever Dundee has come up since — the idea that the right city finds you eventually. He clearly found his. I’ve still not been, which feels increasingly like an oversight given everything this guide turned up.
I run Discount Art Supplies — a price comparison platform used by over 36,000 UK artists every week — and I’ve spent sixteen years in the UK art supplies industry. Here’s the honest guide to what Dundee offers artists right now. If you’re planning visits to nearby cities, also check out our guides to the best art supply shops in Edinburgh and the best art supply shops in Glasgow.
1. iArtsupplies (Trinity Arts) — Hawkhill Court
iArtsupplies — trading as Trinity Arts — is Dundee’s dedicated independent art supplies specialist, based at Hawkhill Court in the city’s creative West End and open six days a week. What distinguishes it from a general art shop is the deliberate focus on the Talens family of brands — Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Amsterdam, Cobra, Ecoline, ArtCreation — which the team stock comprehensively because they genuinly believe these Dutch ranges offer better value and quality than the more familiar Winsor & Newton and Daler-Rowney alternatives that dominate most UK art shops. It’s an interesting editorial position to take and one that’s made Trinity Arts a distinctive resource for artists who want proper professional-grade materials with knowledgeable, opinionated advice rather than a generic selection.
Family run by artists who use and understand the products they stock, Trinity Arts has been serving Dundee’s creative community for over ten years. Open Monday to Friday 9:30am–5pm, Saturday 10am–4:30pm. They also sell online at iartsupplies.co.uk if you want to check stock before visiting.
2. Dundee Contemporary Arts — Nethergate
Dundee Contemporary Arts on Nethergate is one of Scotland’s most significant contemporary art institutions — two galleries, a two-screen cinema, a professional print studio, a learning programme and a shop, all in a building that was listed in the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland’s top 10 Scottish buildings of the 20th century. It was nominated for Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2024 and attracts approximately 380,000 visitors per year. For a regional institution in a city the size of Dundee, those are genuinly remarkable numbers and reflect the quality of what DCA programmes rather than just its location.
The DCA Shop stocks a carefully curated selection of design, jewellery and craft sourced locally and from across the UK — open Monday to Sunday 10am–5:30pm. The Print Studio runs courses and open access sessions for printmakers at all levels, making DCA the most useful combination of gallery, shop and active creative facility for practising artists in Dundee. If you’re visiting for the exhibitions, allow time for both the shop and a conversation about the print studio programme.
Visit Dundee Contemporary Arts online →
3. V&A Dundee — Waterfront
The V&A Dundee is the reason any artist who hasn’t visited Dundee should consider it seriously. Designed by Kengo Kuma and opened in 2018 on the Tay waterfront — a building that references the cliff faces of Scotland’s coastline in a way that photographs struggle to convey — it’s the first V&A outside London and the first design museum in Scotland. The permanent Scottish Design Galleries tell 300 years of Scottish design history through objects, interiors and stories that genuinly surprise. The temporary exhibition programme brings international design and art to Dundee that would otherwise require a trip to London.
The V&A shop stocks design-led gifts, books, prints and objects at the standard the V&A brand requires. Not an art supplies destination in the traditional sense, but the kind of visit that reminds you why design and making matter — which is worth something. Free entry to the permanent collection. Open daily.
4. The McManus — Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum
The McManus is Dundee’s Victorian art gallery and museum — a Gothic Revival building on Albert Square housing a permanent collection of Scottish art alongside natural history, local history and decorative art. The McManus Shop stocks art supplies alongside specialist books, jewellery, home décor and gifts, with all income supporting the city’s collections. For artists visiting Dundee who want to see the permanent Scottish art collection alongside picking up materials, The McManus combines both in one visit without the specialised focus of DCA or the design orientation of V&A Dundee. Free entry.
5. Hobbycraft Dundee
The honest version of Hobbycraft, consistent with every guide: not specialist, not deep in professional-grade range, but genuinly reliable for everyday art and craft consumables at fair prices. Check our Hobbycraft discount code guide before visiting.
A Note on Art Supplies in Dundee
Dundee’s art supplies scene is more interesting than its size alone would suggest — iArtsupplies is a genuinly distinctive specialist with a clear editorial vision, DCA’s print studio is a serious professional resource, and the V&A and McManus together give Dundee a cultural density that most UK cities three times its size can’t match. The Talens focus at Trinity Arts specifically is worth noting — if you’ve been buying Winsor & Newton out of habit and haven’t tried Rembrandt oils or Van Gogh acrylics, a visit to Hawkhill Court is a useful corrective. For professional-grade materials and the best current UK prices across all major art retailers, Discount Art Supplies compares prices in real time.
