
This means you can add your own unique personalisation. We will work one-on-one with you from the outset, to choose colouring for both land and sea, the style of shading (land and sea), base style, the finish of the wood or metal chosen – along with the options for added personalisation. With in-studio cartographers, graphic designers and illustrators we can customise your globe in any way you dream up.

This bespoke map was designed for an 80cm diameter globe. The cartography shows the interconnectivity of the world through its underwater cabling network. The cartography of major cities was also designed to reflect population sizes – and the globe has many hand drawn and hand painted illustrations reflecting the clients unique life and interests.
We also worked with the client to design a bespoke rotational base. This base was designed to narrow at the bottom so it could sit within a feature already in their home. The base is hand-cast in Bronze and hand finished – designed to look like petals. It has added hand-engraving as well. The globe sits and spins 360 degrees in all directions by hand on hidden ball bearings.



65cm Regency Blue floor standing globe with a gloss finish.


A wonderful commission by a returning client for a 19th Century historic map on a large 80cm diameter globe.
The colouring is a bespoke variation of our Parchment Cassini colouring.
Illustrated features include nods to the Industrial Revolution like a steam engine and factories. The Napoleonic Wars and Waterloo. The American Civil War including a battle scene, Zulu Wars, and a feature for the Qing Dynasty, the Boxer Rebellion, the Taiping Uprising, and the Opium Wars with ships, Meiji Restoration, the Philippine Revolution, the Battle of Zapote Bridge and a Manila Galleon ~ Click for more details ~
Pet Portraits (spot the dog & cat!)

Illustrating the important milestones in life

Includes hand painted illustrations (View more photos)
Enquire for details on maps we have in other languages – or the options and a quote for us to design a map in the sizing and language you would like.

Includes hand painted illustrations of the clients favourite memories (View more photos)

“World Like Nowhere Else” Globe for Royal Ascot
The Royal Procession, Ascot’s iconic Greencoats, the finest thoroughbreds running through waves, a statue of Yeats, a fleet of helicopters, well-dressed ladies, a champagne waterfall, a floating cake stand representing afternoon Tea & the famous bandstand are just some of the highlights. Juliet Slot, Commercial Director, Ascot Racecourse says, “Our ‘World Like Nowhere Else’ globe celebrates the rich offering that has & continues to evolve at Royal Ascot for hundreds of years, bringing relevance & vibrancy to an art form that has been passed through generations.

Famous Monuments, Wonders of the World, Bucket List Travel

The hand painted illustrations were drawn using references including the customers personal photos.


We sourced a reference of a 1942 map and our talented cartographers created gores so the map projection would be an accurate map to be able to make a 36cm diameter globe. The commission was inspired by the clients visit with her son to Chartwell where the original inspiration for the sizing of our Churchill globe is. The map reflects the borders during World War II which is fascinating to explore.

This globe and base have been designed to fix on to a yacht and also have strapping that can attach to secure the globe (see sides with notches to latch on). The globe is 22cm diameter. The colouring is Glacial Blue. The wood is Sapele with a Coffee Stain. The globe spins 360 degrees in a fluid motion by hand on bearings when not strapped down. The personalisation is based on our Voyages of Discovery theme with the clients own added requests.


This globe has over 150 hand drawn and hand painted illustrations.
Available for ”Quick Delivery” | Order Bespoke Variations (all sizes)

A globe that is also an urn
We were trusted to create a very special & sentimental globe, designed to also be an urn. This 22cm diameter globe includes hand drawn & hand painted illustrations, including a portrait. The cartography also features flight routes tracing important dates & journeys.

A custom globe themed around the Ice Age
The client for whom this globe was commissioned for is an Ice Age Ecologist. His partner & family commissioned this as a “scientific world of art” – a surprise birthday gift – and then the client was in touch to specify his wishes & work with us one-on-one to create the world in his vision.

Family portraits & tracing
family history with travel routes

Tracing Family Migration Over Land & Sea
A 22cm Cobalt Blue globe with family travel routes, including hand drawn & hand painted illustrations of the modes of transport. Dates are includes, vessel names, and imagery representing memories along the routes.

Plotting a Lifetime of Personal & Business Travels
An inspiring globe with a lifetime of travels tracked and traced. From a TransAtlantic steamer in the early 1961, 99 days on Greyhound buses through the US in 1962, years as a merchant marine, a failed attempt to dock in Trista da Cunha on account of heavy seas, river cruises down epic waterways like the Nile, flying around the world for work and adventures, biking through Asia, being on the longest non-stop flight in world aviation, being on the last west bound crossing of the QE 2… even being on the last scheduled Lufthansa flight before lockdown in 2020 … this globe tells so many stories through these lines, labels, and hand drawn and hand painted illustrations of favourite memories. Most touching are the last memories of travel with his wife to her favourite places and his continued travel without her. It has been a true pleasure to get to know more about this customer through his very well documented travels and helping decide how to show this all on a globe.
Colouring is Glacial Blue. Sizing is 50cm diameter (20 inches). Base is the Reeded Leg in Walnut with a dark “coffee stain”.
The client asked for us to source and add wheels to this base and this can be done to any of our floor standing bases for an additional charge.
141 Travel Routes, 100 + Labels, 50+ Illustrations >> MORE IMAGES


Or shall we say… ‘right-side up globe’ –
This is a 36cm diameter Upside Down Bellerby & Co Globemakers Globe – in Gagarin colouring.
The globe spins 360 degrees in a fluid motion by hand.

We worked with this client to design the map and globe in a way he would best see the colours and differentiation between countries.

We have done many variations in different ways – Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Seven Natural Wonders of the World, New Seven Wonders of the World, Seven Wonders of the Underwater World, Seven Wonders of the Industrial World


View more photos – click here | Image courtesy of the artist & Stephen Friedman Gallery. Photo: Thomas Liu. This lovely work includes figures with heads which are bespoke globes


Flower Themed
36cm Mint Green Globe

View More Photos………..
36cm Albion Online……………..


A globe of some of the world’s most significant migrations,
in humans, animals and birds (Click for more images)



Please get in touch to find out more about any theme ideas you have, as well as globes in other languages and what we have done to date.
To make an appointment or to start the process of commissioning a bespoke globe please email : info@bellerbyglobemakers.com ~ you can also make a deposit online and we will be in touch to explain the next steps.
Personalisation guide linked here.


Bright and vibrant and full of well thought-through illustrations of meaning to the client are balanced throughout this globe. Our illustrator hand drew using very detailed descriptions provided by the client – and we hand painted to his specifications.



From ‘Alî ibn Hasan al-Hûfî al-Qâsimî’s 1456. Centuries before digital navigation apps put global maps at our fingertips, people relied on the work and research of scholars and cartographers to illustrate the world. One of the most famous cartographers to publish early maps of the world was Arab Muslim geographer, traveller, and scholar Abū Abdallāh Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abdallāh ibn Idrīs al-sharif al-Idrīsī, or simply al-Idrisi. His book, The Excursion of One Who is Eager to Traverse the Regions of the World, is known as one of the great works of medieval geography and cartography.
Includes a bespoke horizon band with hand drawn and hand painted imagery, a bespoke base to move the globe in the one desired way, and hand carved wood legs on the base which were reminiscent of tile designs.

We undertake commissions of all kinds in both wood and metal. Get in touch with your ideas for a better idea on timelines, cost, options and the process you can expect ahead. We work in Aluminium, Bronze, Brass, Copper, Stainless Steel and Titanium. We might suggest what metal is best based on a brief as well as design restrictions and weight consideration.

