London's best gallery and museum gift shops

V&A Shop: Best for Mothers, Fashion Lovers & Interior Designers

The V&A is a treasure trove of decorative arts spanning millennia and media from all corners of the globe. There's everything from Renaissance wood carving to early daguerreotypes and contemporary furniture. Alongside the outstanding permanent collection are temporary art, fashion and design exhibitions that draw crowds far and wide.

At the heart of it all stands the museum's beautiful shop, home to more than 2000 objets d'art, limited edition prints, home accessories, books, and bespoke jewellery commissions inspired by the museum's diverse collection and exhibition programme. It's easy to spend hours flicking through Balenciaga catalogues, browsing Dior exhibition stash, deliberating between a Frida Kahlo silk scarf or Rosita Bonita red rose drop earrings, or, even stocking up on the V&A's own range of butter caramel and sea salt biscuits, sweat treats and tea. Come Christmas, excitement peaks: V&A Christmas cards, hand-made Christmas decorations, and William Morris stocking fillers are thrown into the mix.

Design Museum Shop: Best for Tech Buffs, Aesthetes and Product Design Nerds

As Italian architect Ernesto Rogers wrote in 1950, design informs our lives at every scale, 'dal cucchiaio alla città' – 'from the spoon to the city'. London is lucky enough to have a museum that honours that fact. John Pawson's recently refurbished Design Museum Kensington, is equal parts divine and down-to-earth. And its shop is equally reflective of the museum's core values, stocking everything from on-trend Crystal bulb pendants by Lee Broom to Japanese ceramic teapots.

Magpies will know that the Design Museum Shop is a good place to go for home interiors, office accessories and stationary, but it's also home to an exclusive range of models and miniatures that are far more substantial (and valuable) than exhibition mementos. We love the Vitra Miniatures range, especially the Rood Blauwe Stoel chair designed by Gerrit Rietveld, here reproduced especially for the museum shop in a 1:6 scale model. Fans of the recent Design Museum Cartier exhibition may fall head over heels for the Cartier model car based on an original blueprint design of an Itala 24HP Chassis by Rothschild et Fils found in the Cartier archives. At £12,495.00, this is an investment piece to say the least.

Japan House Shop: Best for Japanophiles, Travellers, Collectors of Exotica

Spanning all three floors of Kensington's former Art Deco department store Derry & Toms, Japan House London champions Japanese creativity, design, art, food and technology. Japan House London plays host to The Stand coffee bar serving delicious Matcha Tea and Iced Hojicha Lattes, a large exhibition gallery, the new flagship Akira restaurant headed by star Japanese chef Shimizu Akira, and a gorgeous lofty retail space.

The shop, located on the ground floor, stocks exquisite pieces from the worlds of Japanese art, design, architecture and technology. There's everything from historical Hirota Glass from Tokyo to high quality Kanaya Brushes used for drawing, paintings, cooking, cleaning and make-up. All products and designs are introduced with carefully curated object labels, which detail the designers involved and the craft techniques used in the process. Part gallery, part shop, the space offers a window onto another world culture and creative process. Discover and fall in love.

British Museum Shop: Best for History Buffs, Archaeologists, Collectors of Replicas & Sculpture

The British Museum houses an eclectic, worldly collection, from Roman and Greek antiquities to more than 350,000 objects representing the cultures of the indigenous peoples of Africa, the Pacific and Australia, and the Americas.

The British Museum Shop offers an equally eclectic range of products, from limited edition busts and heads to exhibition trinkets and souvenirs. The randomness of the shop housed in the Grenville Room is a delight to behold: Roman rubber ducks rub shoulders with replica busts of Nefertiti, while bags & accessories inspired by the latest blockbuster exhibition sit alongside academic publications, Rosetta stone cufflinks, watches and fragrances. Almost everything here is displayed in glass vitrines, seducing you to purchase unfathomable objects that you think will look just as good at home. Just make sure that Cyrus Cylinder replica you end up buying at £2000 is something you'll really treasure.

Tate Modern Shop: Best for Contemporary art lovers, Print collectors, Limited Edition collaborations

Lovers of contemporary art will be all too familiar with Tate Modern's glass-fronted gift shop. It's a treasure trove of prints and editions of the most famous paintings in Tate's collection. But Tate's Shop is also home to delicious gifts of all shapes and sizes.

Yayoi Kusama dinner plates, tea towels and mug set are on display alongside a Frida Christmas bauble and super chic Jean-Michel Basquiat Horn Players Triptych Skateboard. From tote bags to cushion covers, and tableware to decorative trinkets, it really is a one-stop-shop for quirky, arty gifts. There's also a great stocking stuffer online gallery, showcasing objects at affordable prices: David Shrigley cards and the David Hockney knee socks come high up on our wish list this year.

Science Museum Shop: Best for Budding scientists, Little explorers, Gadget lovers

One of London's best spaces for kids and little explorers, the Science Museum offers plenty of opportunity for discovery. Its shop reflects its ethos for learning and experimentation.

Chemistry kits, biology kits and microscopes sit alongside computer accessories, tech gadgets and remote control toys for kids of all ages. Alongside the product ranges inspired by recent exhibitions are smart-science themed homeware accessories, build your own robot sets and an exclusive Science Museum x NASA clothing range. It's a one-stop shop for all those friends and family with a keen interest in science and space, and those who love to build, make, explore, experiment and do!

British Library Shop: Best for Bibliophiles, Historians, Literati

Home to one of every book published in the UK and Ireland, the British Library is an inspiring centre for research and education in the heart of London. Its shop is bursting with gift ideas for the curious and literary minded, stocking far beyond the expected ranges of paper diaries, notepads, stationary and postcards.

The British Library shop is a veritable cabinet of curiosities, stocking everything from a globe puzzle and 18th-century Sundial compass to botanical-inspired tea towels and first edition books. With games, yoyos and soft toys aplenty, kids are well-catered for, too. Although jewellery, home furnishings and fashion accessories are on offer, choice is more limited and ultimately not what the shop is best known for.

London Transport Museum Shop: Best for Vintage lovers, Car enthusiasts, Train spotters

Although the London Transport Museum Shop sounds niche, it stocks a wealth of cross-category products for all ages and interests. Vintage tube posters, limited edition prints, and London Bus maps sit alongside specially commissioned models, wooden toys and moquette furniture. Pop in, scout around and leave with an unexpectedly good purchase or piece of vintage furniture.