The best craft shops in Nottingham for art students

Craft shops in Kings Walk

My first recommendation is right on the nose with Handmade Nottingham. I would be shocked if any art students haven’t already heard of HN but as it is slightly hidden away on Kings Walk just by Victoria Centre, it’s not on the mainstream student pathway into the city so it’s easily missed.

It goes without saying that Handmade is a local, Nottingham-owned craft shop so everything is – as the name implies – handmade. This means you’re supporting a small business, shopping locally and sustainably. What more could a woke art student ask for in a Nottingham craft shop? HN is full of trinkets like earrings, art prints, clothes, pin badges, make your own (insert animal here) craft kits, soaps, candles and health and beauty products all themed around your local city of Nottingham.

If you’re a student not from round here (a southerner), I’m sure there will be something here to remind you of the quirks of this lovely little city which you’ll call home for the most exciting part of your life. I’ll admit this is a little more of a gift shop BUT they do make playful decorative tapes and stickers to personalise your new notebook. However, there is method to my madness, the reason I have included it is due to the one outstanding feature that distinguishes HN from the rest of the other craft shops in Nottingham.

HN run their own professionally-guided workshops. As a great starting point, almost perfectly timed in our favour, HN are running a weekly craft club every Wednesday 2-4pm. Here you can bring any craft materials you like, stay as long as you like and talk as much as you like to other like-minded crafters for inspiration. For example, the next one coming up at the time of writing this is a Portrait Pot Workshop on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, these are not free and can cost between £10 – £60 per person, but you do get all the materials provided and get to keep whatever masterpiece you create!

Craft shops in Beeston

Are you a Broadgate or Dagfa fresher scouring your town for artistic inspiration? Or are you a second year stuck in Beeston for another round? Well, don’t be too blue, Beeston is actually a hub for some of the best craft shops in Nottingham. These come in many different forms – for example, The Salvation Army charity shop is full of trinkets to galvanise your next portfolio. You can also find lots of great charity shops around Nottingham to have a nosey at for good – or random – craft supplies.

I think the best thing about Beeston is it’s home to Pot ‘N’ Kettle – their very own pottery painting shop. This is a great activity I would definitely recommend when you’re all finished with exams. Imagine sitting carefree, painting a pot dragon (or whatever other pottery animal, utensil or fungus takes your fancy), what more could you ask for? This crafty activity is also more affordable than you think. The price depends on the type and size of the pot you pick but you can take home a little memento you’ve painted yourself for just £1! Prices go all the way up to £80 and as a rough guide, the octopus I painted and the dog my mum designed to look exactly like our dog (pictured below for reference) cost only £12 each. A great Mother’s Day gift if you ask me!

In addition to booking a cute pottery painting date with your mum (or your housemates if you’re smooth like that), Pot ‘N’ Kettle sell DIY painting kits for you to take home and do yourself. It’s a little cheaper than coming into the studio and doing it but I think that’s the most fun part!

Craft shops in Victoria Centre

My final recommendation is one of my personal favourite shops; Flying Tiger Copenhagen. Situated on the first floor of the infamous Victoria Centre, I’m sure it’s well visited by all. If you haven’t already visited the Victoria Centre then have you been living under a rock? Flying Tiger is a Scandinavian brand founded in Denmark and now a little shining diamond in the heart of Nottingham. It stocks all kinds of stationery; boring and plain for the STEM students all the way to fluorescent colouring pens for the oh-so-envied art students. My favourite colouring pens (and colouring books) are from Flying Tiger: ‘Penseltuscher’ if you want to try them out for yourself. I also have numerous unneeded and unused notebooks; lined, unlined, dotted and squared. I can’t control myself with craft supplies in the form of stationery.

You may be wondering why I’m including this in ‘Nottingham’s best craft shops’ if it’s main feature is stationery? Well hold your horses because it wouldn’t be included unless it sold its own, authentic craft supplies and I wouldn’t be doing my job right! Although, I do have a catch; it really does sell only the essentials. Hear me out, it’s got glitter glue, sticky googly eyes, 3D gemstone stickers, holographic stickers, whale stickers, fairy stickers, Christmas stickers (only at Christmas – don’t get too excited). Hang on, this is too many sticker examples I’m getting carried away by all their variations!

Anyway, they also have the classic build your own Pinwheel, Marble Church and Round Tower! Sorry, these aren’t ringing any bells? Of course not, Flying Tiger is its own unique and quirky craft shop that seriously does stock everything. Too many DIY kits, rogue art and craft supplies, build-your-owns, knit your owns, crochet your owns and fold your owns to list. I hope this spicy description really helped you visualise the sheer range (oooooh, The Range sells lots too!) of arts and craft supplies that Flying Tiger stocks.  An important thing about arts and crafts here is that it’s affordable so you can be as creative, careless and frivolous as you please with the range of craft supplies here. If you can find something that costs more than £30 then please let me know, I will be amazed. And even if you do, I bet £30 is a great price for that item.

A Wild Card

Now, I’m going to let you in on a not-so-secret venue for one-of-a-kind arts and craft supplies. The best, most sustainable, most ethical place to find arts and crafts are the Markets. As the markets are not a concretely rooted settlement in the city, such as a shop, including them in the ‘best craft shops in Nottingham’ would be scandalous. And anyway, I could write a whole 1200 more words on the markets alone so I’ll save it for another time.

All in all, I genuinely love and recommend discovering these craft shops in Nottingham. It would be impossible for me to pick a favourite. Although, they do say you should save the best ‘till last!