A UK family art supplies business. Independent, trusted, since 1990.

Artway was founded on 19 June 1990 by husband-and-wife team Ian and Christine Way. The early business ran pop-up sales at universities and colleges, and then started supplying those same institutions with bespoke course kits — course-specific bundles of materials made up by someone who actually knew the products, not a generic stationery box.

That kit business grew steadily, and over three decades it became the foundation for everything Artway does today: a curated range of own-brand sketchbooks and papers, a broader catalogue of paint, drawing tools and printmaking supplies, and a wholesale operation supplying schools, galleries and independent shops across the UK. The bespoke course kit work still plays a key role in the business.

In 2013, Steve and Charis Milham — Steve being Christine's younger brother — joined Ian and Christine as owners and directors. Ian and Christine retired at the end of 2022. Today Artway is owned and run by Steve and Charis — still in the extended family, still proudly independent, still based in the same warehouse in Wiltshire.

A growing share of what we sell carries our own name. These ranges are designed in-house and made — wherever we can — in the UK. Alongside them, we stock a carefully edited range of brands we have used and recommended for years.

Sustainability sits in our operations, not just our marketing. The Enviro range has been UK-made from recycled paper for over a decade. Our warehouse is heated by a biomass boiler. We default to sea freight rather than air, and reuse incoming packaging wherever the material is clean enough.

We do not claim to be 100% plastic-free, and we do not buy carbon offsets in place of cutting actual emissions. The sustainability page sets out what we have done, and what we have not solved yet.