https://www.cornelissen.com/

Tucked away on a narrow street behind the British Museum in London is a little shop that J K Rowlings must have visited. It is eerily similar to Ollivander’s Wand Shop in Diagon Alley, where Harry Potter gets his custom wand.

But this shop sells wonders of a different kind – it is a paradise for artists. It is also a treasure for anyone who loves colour and beautiful inks and elegant brushes or creamy thick watercolour papers. Actually I think anyone with a taste for design or an eye for colour would love this shop. And you would not be alone.

Artists like Lucien Freud, Howard Hodgkin, Whistler, Audrey Beardsley, Walter Sickert , Damien Hirst and countless others have sourced their supplies from this engaging shop.

You don’t have to be searching for art supplies to enjoy a visit to Cornelissen & Son though. The street itself, nestled close behind the British Museum, is engaging. Directly across the street from the shop is the building that the famous architect, Edwin Lutyens, designed as the headquarters of the YWCA. It is now the Bloomsbury Hotel, but well worth visiting.

L. Cornelissen and Son have been in business, supplying the highest quality art supplies, since 1855, when Louis Cornelissen moved his lithography shop from Paris to London. The move was reputed to have been encouraged by none other than the painter JMW Turner. Cornelissen broadened his shop to include paints and art supplies and the store has been the place to source top quality art supplies ever since.

The shop prides itself on supplying those hard to find art products – like Dragon’s blood, rare pigments, a silverpoint stylus, or a mahlstick. They stock over 20 shades of gold leaf.

Like Ollivander’s Wand Shop, Cornelissen’s is a warren of shelves, with banks of drawers full of pigments, chalks and watercolours. Displays of coloured inks look like a collection of jewels. A person could spend hours browsing in this little shop.

You can take a tour of the shop through these visuals:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/L.+Cornelissen+%26+Son/@51.5175363,-0.1290402,3a,90y,354.32h,96.06t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipMILKJ0HDr7MA_eeyo5yNErqrrAKV_fSj3l9y0L!2e10!3e12!7i10716!8i5358!4m7!3m6!1s0x48761b327fceabc3:0x2793aeacb97cee19!8m2!3d51.5175684!4d-0.1290874!10e5!16s%2Fg%2F1thqg72v?hl=en&entry=ttu

Or watch this Youtube video to see a bit of the inside. The owner since 1977, Nicholas Walt, is committed to carrying on the traditions of the shop.

If you visit, the Tottenham Court Underground is the closest tube stop. The shop is at 105 Great Russell Street. Here’s a link to the google map to find the shop:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/YoTLFATJxSojDSBFA

Maybe a paintbrush is a kind of magic wand too!