About Inkwell

We started with Japanese inks. We followed the craft wherever it led.

Inkwell began because the materials that define professional illustration in Japan — Nicker poster colour, Kuretake brush pens, Tachikawa nibs — were almost impossible to find in the UK without trawling import sites and crossing your fingers on shipping. We wanted them on a shelf that made sense, explained properly, by people who'd actually used them. As we went looking, we found kindred makers elsewhere too — Dominant Industry in South Korea, De Atramentis and Rohrer & Klingner in Germany, Krishna Inks in India. The geography varies. The commitment to craft doesn't.

We're not trying to be everything to everyone. We stock what we'd recommend to a friend who does this work for a living, or wants to start doing it properly — illustrators, manga and comic artists, calligraphers, botanical illustrators, fountain pen people who care about shading and sheen, journallers, zine makers. If a product doesn't earn its place — if it's just filling a category rather than doing something specific — we don't carry it. Every listing on this site comes with an honest note about what the thing does and, just as importantly, what it doesn't. We'd rather tell you a nib is the wrong choice for your grip than sell it to you anyway.

A physical shop is part of the plan, but it isn't open yet. We're working on a concept built around three things we think are missing from UK art retail: a proper notebook bindery where you choose your own paper and binding, an ink lab where you can mix and bottle a colour that's genuinely yours, and a fountain pen fitting service for people who want a pen built to suit their hand rather than picked off a shelf. Think of it as something between a stationer, a workshop, and a small museum of the tools we love. We're trialling the idea before we commit to a lease, so for now Inkwell lives online — but if you'd like to know when the doors open, it's worth keeping an eye on this page.