Demand for globes has rocketed in the past decade. Yet for the most part, today’s globes are a far cry from exquisitely made antique versions, which are expensive and often too delicate for everyday display. A hand-painted Bellerby & Co. globe, like the exquisite “Livingstone” model pictured, takes a vast amount of expertise to complete, as the firm’s founder Peter Bellerby discovered when he decided to make a globe for his father’s 80th birthday. “I thought it would take three or four months” he recalls. “After all, how difficult can it be to make a ball and put a map on it?” Bellerby soon discovered the challenges facing anyone set on creating a high quality globe. Indeed, even sourcing a genuinely round sphere proved nigh impossible. Six years on, however, his bespoke globe-making firm in London now has orders arriving from all over the world. So, in Bellerby’s opinion, what is it about these objects that elicits such passion? “There are so many things a globe evokes, from childhood geography lessons to a sense of adventure… to wondering why you’re on the planet.” bellerbyandco.com
