Bellerby and Co founder Peter Bellerby presents a beautiful and fascinating read on a forgotten craft, and how it all started from one birthday gift to his father
Review by Elizabeth Wainwright
After a fruitless search for a special globe for his father’s 80th birthday, Peter Bellerby decided to make one himself. What followed was a journey of discovery that led to the creation of Bellerby & Co Globemakers, the world’s only bespoke makers of globes. The Globemakers recounts this journey, tracking the history and craftsmanship of globes – or ‘earth apples’ as they were first known – in illustration, photography and narrative.
The book takes readers through the process and challenges of making a globe (how, for instance, do you fit a recreation of Winston Churchill’s 50-inch globe through a door?), and we peek into Bellerby’s London workshop, where engineers, cartographers, carpenters and painters craft terrestrial, celestial and planetary globes for customers. The team began sharing photos from the workshop on Instagram, with details on craft and context, and have amassed more than 150,000 followers. (I visited the account and half an hour later I was still there – it’s fascinating both visually and factually.) ‘We do everything from start to watercolour finish by hand,’ Bellerby explains. The passion for the craft is tangible. ‘Google Maps might inform, but a globe inspires.’
Globemaking is a forgotten craft, one that fuses art and science, engineering and geography, astronomy and myth – and adds a dose of imagination. The book weaves these larger themes into the story of globemaking. Although the craft may have been forgotten, Bellerby’s journey has put it back on the map. ‘The job of a globemaker is never complete: politically, the world changes continuously, and the act and art of globemaking is just as captivating as the countries, cities, mountains and oceans depicted on the globes themselves.’
As the Earth faces an uncertain future, the craft of globemaking brings into focus the one real globe we all share. In his craft, Bellerby says, ‘you experience a similar feeling to the overview effect that astronauts recount. Seeing the Earth (albeit recreations) standing there alone in a silent studio gives you a sense of calm, but also a feeling of protectiveness towards the planet.’
The Globemakers is an accessible and fascinating read – and like the craft itself, it’s beautiful, too.
