Bellerby & Co, Globemakers is a privately owned English company based in Stoke Newington, North London, specialising in the manufacture of artisanal handcrafted globes. Bellerby and Co are one of only two handmade globemaking companies in the world and the only one that makes handcrafted and handpainted globes with contemporary cartography.
Founded by Peter Bellerby in 2008, the artisan studio was born when Bellerby struggled to find a quality globe for his father’s 80th birthday present… and so Bellerby and Co, Globemakers was born. Faced with a choice between a cheaply made modern globes or a fragile, expensive antique model, Bellerby decided to spend a few months and a few thousand pounds making his own, instead. According to the official website: “After a two year search for a globe for my father’s 80th birthday present I was faced with a choice of a modern political globe (albeit frequently available with a generous dose of sepia colouring), very fragile expensive antique models, which you can’t really use on a daily basis or trying to make my own.”
Now, they are a small team of dedicated Globe-makers constructing high-quality, handmade, artisan globes that are as much works of art as they are scientific instruments. From the stand, to the painting, to the mapmaking, each piece is expertly crafted in-house using traditional and modern globe-making techniques. Two globes were commissioned for the movie Hugo and in 2012, an egg-shaped Bellerby globe was donated to The Faberge Big Egg Hunt charity for auction in London.