In conversation with Peter Bellerby
“I always had a love for world maps and geography. I think it is natural to want to know more about the planet we live on.”
- Peter Bellerby
Peter Bellerby (left). Bellerby and Co. Globemakers. Image credit Euan Myles.
Peter Bellerby is the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, a company renowned for its exquisite hand-crafted globes. Established in 2010, the company specialises in meticulously designed pieces that showcase exceptional craftsmanship, positioning Bellerby & Co. as a leader in the globe-making industry.
Bellerby & Co. is participating in The Big Egg Hunt, a public art initiative by Elephant Family in partnership with Clarence Court. Featuring over 100 designers, artists, and brands, the event showcases uniquely decorated eggs displayed across London to raise funds for Elephant Family’s vital conservation work to protect habitats and wildlife in South Asia. We recently visited their studio to explore the intricate art of globe-making and learn more about their creative contributions to the Hunt.
You’ve established a truly unique brand with Bellerby&Co. Globemakers. What inspired you to embark on the journey of creating bespoke globes, and how does your company distinguish itself in the realm of craftsmanship and artistry?
I always had a love for world maps and geography. I think it is natural to want to know more about the planet we live on.
Globe-making itself started as a hobby. I wanted to find a gift for my fathers upcoming 80th birthday. I found the options were either poor replicas or priceless antiques. It seemed the art of traditional Globe-making was gone. I decided to go about making my own - thinking I would make one for my father and one for myself and that would be it - but after 2 years of teaching myself and hundreds of globes that were not good enough - and after nearly bankrupting myself a business was born!
Our company has always organically grown and been genuine in that we are making a product we love and that we think is beautiful and handcrafted to the best possible level, we don’t look to distinguish ourselves rather than go with what we love and take pride in what we do and luckily many clients all over the world notice and appreciate us.
Your globes are renowned for their exceptional craftsmanship and being entirely handcrafted. Could you take us through the intricate process of creating a globe, from initial concept to final product?
Firstly, you need to create a perfect sphere, using two half-moulds.
Next, we edit our map, since each globe is made to order we are updating our cartography regularly and further personalising the map depending on our customers preferences. The client may add travel routes, highlight favourite cities or ask us to design illustrations to place land and sea.
We work with each customer to help them design their globe as they’d like it, this can sometimes be a process over months or even years. We go through a mocking up and approval process with visuals of the map for review.
Once the map is ready and approved by the client, it is printed and cut up by hand into precise shapes called gores. The gores are painted by hand using watercolours, which give a unique result for each globe.
The first washes go on the gores when they are flat. When the gores are dry, they are ready to be attached to the globe, which is called ‘goring the globe’.
That stage is very precise work and very difficult because you’re wetting the paper and stretching it, wet paper as you can imagine is very fragile.
The paper wants to rip, ripple, bubble or tear naturally. If you work with one piece too long it will naturally degrade.
After the gores are applied many more layers and detail of watercolour are added, illustrations are hand painted in detail, shading is done land and sea to the clients specifications - and the globe is sealed with either a gloss or matte finish.
That is the simple breakdown! There are of course various fiddly bits in between from start to finish, with each globe passing between the makers and painters in stages.
When finished, the globe is placed into it’s base, which has also been handcrafted and finished to bespoke specifications - we make a variety of traditional and modern bases of our own design in woods and metals. There is a process to this along with some bases that have hand engraved metal elements.
What challenges does your team encounter during this creative journey?
What challenges we come upon depends on the client and their specific requests. We just finished a globe on roller bearings being designed to sit on a sailing yacht. We had to figure out how to make a safe strapping system so the globe could be secured easily when waters get rough. We love a challenge whether it be a base design, cartography related or creating a running theme of hand drawn and hand painted illustrationsaround the world. We have taken clients diaries of 60+ years of travel and translated it on to a globe for them.
Bellerby and Co. Globemakers. Image credit Euan Myles.
What do you think makes your globes so highly coveted among collectors and enthusiasts worldwide?
Each one is handcrafted and hand painted bespoke to order, personalised and customised and truly one of a kind. Our team here in London consists of the best globemakers in the world, the most skilled artists and wood-workers, illustrators, and in-house cartographers. All the skills are taught from scratch, learnt and perfected in our studio. We create everything with huge attention to detail and develop a personal relationship with each customer during the process to ensure we create their globe exactly as they would like it. We are independently owned and run, we do no paid advertising or PR, we aren’t a corporate brand and are completely accessible. Clients can come to our London studio and talk through any aspect of their wants and needs with me direct anytime.
Bellerby & Co. is one of over 100 designers, artists, and brands participating in the Big Egg Hunt 2025. What motivated you to participate in the Big Egg Hunt 2025?
We started our involvement with the Elephant Family back in 2012 with the amazing Big Egg Hunt which captured the public’s imagination in the run up to Easter 2012, followed by another in 2014 for New York City. We were so pleased to see these Eggs reach top tier bids and raise a lot of funds for a cause we are passionate about. We were thrilled to be involved again and be able to create a new Egg Globe that shows our current style and craftsmanship and continue to help this charity we are so passionate about.
The style of The Globemakers Egg is the result of one of our (extremely lucky) customers visit to the International Space Station. He wanted his globe to remind him of the view he had of Mother Earth from the Space Station, where borders are not really relevant, and so we painted the globe in that style giving prominence to nature over political considerations. It helps reminds us that we are merely brief custodians of our amazing planet.
Bellerby and Co. Globemakers. Image credit Euan Myles.
Transitioning from globe design to creating art for something as unconventional as a decorated egg presents its own set of challenges. How did you adapt your creative process for this new medium?
Creating a map on a sphere is a challenge, creating a map projection to work on an Egg reaches new levels.
Our team worked to design the unique gores (flat strips of the map that will match up on the 3g Egg Sphere), having to design a projection around the unique shape and testing at many stages along the way that each piece would match up.
Handcrafting required our Globemakers to train their hands in a different method, how the paper needs to stretch and be manipulated differs great from size to size or our globes and to a new level when working with an unbalanced shape that differs so much from a sphere.
And like with our globes, hand painting in watercolours on a curved / non flat surface is a huge challenge on its own.
Bellerby & Co. Globemakers’ Egg is on display at Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill until 27 April 2025.
The silent auction for the Eggs in The Big Egg Hunt is now live, allowing the public to bid, with all proceeds supporting Elephant Family’s vital conservation work to protect habitats and wildlife in South Asia. Click here to visit their auction site.
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