The Opening Reception…

Week one has drawn to an end, and we have been blown away by the response to our globe exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society.  During the day, you can observe globes being made, painted, gored and varnished in our workshop space, as well as many models, maps and interesting reads to while away the day. Find us at the end of Exhibition Road, Kensington, in the glass fronted Pavilion Space of the RGS, it’s free entry and open from 10am-5pm daily.

On Tuesday evening we held an opening reception at the Society, to celebrate the first ever exhibition of it’s kind at the RGS.  A whole bunch of lovely people, from doctors to Princesses, cartographers and artists, battled the wind and rain and made it down to the event, where globes were scrutinized under magnifying glasses, spun, caressed and adored. A big thank you to everyone who made the night a huge success.  A selection of photos below!

Detail from the magnificent Churchill globe

The Mini Desk Globe in Blue, The Churchill in the background

The beautiful hand-painted globe by Fiona Owen, “Terra Incognita”

The Curve model, from The 80 Series

The stunning hand drawn piece by Meredith, “Creatures from the Depths”

The Perano Terrestrial free standing edition

The Mini Desk Globe, in Olive with 1951 Base

The Perano Celestial Model, featuring over 100 hand drawn constellations

 

Exhibition Week…

Time has flown by at our globemaking studio, is it really 27th September?  If so, in two days time (and I’m sure you’ve all got the date circled in your diary) our exhibition of globes opens at the Royal Geographical Society, and we are so excited to share our collection with the public.

There will be many new mini-globes to paw, spin and play with (see photo below) and even the chance to win one over the two week period, just visit the exhibition to find out more.  The show will also feature beautiful alternative globes, hand painted by select London artists; and the historical Churchill models, which are so impressive up close, standing over 1.5 m tall.

The Terrestrial Standard Mini Desk Globe £598

We have constructed a workshop space which will be active for the entire duration of the exhibition, relocating some of our talented globemakers from our studio in North London, so that visitors to the show can follow the process of making the globes, from painting to goring.  We’ve picked the friendliest of the bunch, who won’t mind you having a peek over their shoulder, or asking any questions!

Meredith Owen, resident artist at Bellerby Globemakers, painting detail onto the Churchill globe.

The show will guide you through the art of globemaking, and offer a rare chance to see a wide collection of models and styles, including the Terrestrial (earthly) and it’s Celestial (heavenly) counterpart, which depicts the mythical astrological figures, and over 3000 stars as seen in the night sky.

A Celestial Globe installation pictured in 1900 Paris

Come and see the first ever exhibition of handmade globes to be shown at the Royal Geographical Society; running from this Saturday 29th September to Friday 12th October, open daily from 10am to 5pm, and admission is FREE.  We have also set up a globey giftshop featuring books, maps, bags and postcards for you to take away.  All proceeds from the sales of our Bellerby Brochure are donated to the Elephant Family charity.   More information on our website.  See you there!

The Globemakers.

Its offical, we’re exhibiting!

Wow what a month! The Olympic summer is nearly over, and there’s an autumnal, back-to-school breeze in the air, but we are secretly looking forward to crunchy orange leaves, pub fires, woolly jumpers and London Fashion Week.

But before any of that, we are super SUPER busy preparing for our inaugural exhibition which is opening on 29th September, entitled, “Geographical Blueprint: The Art of the Handcrafted Globe”.  (Also the first ever globe exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society, making us feel very special and honoured to be offered the privilege.)

Our show features a few of our signature pieces, as well as new exciting models which are yet to be unveiled, many mini desk globes and the huge Churchill globe standing over 1.5m high!

The exhibition will host a working “Bellerby & Co. Globemaking Studio” and we’re relocating our trained craftsmen and ladies to the RGS for two weeks, where you can see how a globe is made.  Exciting stuff. There are also stunning Bellerby maps and bags which you can purchase on the day, and a completely beautiful coffee table globe book, of which ALL proceeds go to the wonderful Elephant Family charity who are in support of our event.

We have a pair of tickets to our exclusive champagne reception to be won, (Tuesday 2nd October) so for a chance to be part of the special event just pop your email address in the box HERE. Good luck!

As you can imagine the studio is a very busy place right now, and with our new website just recently launched, we can now take online orders for the ever popular mini desk globes (perfect Christmas gifts) and you can browse through our whole collection in your pyjamas if you wish.

Pop in and say hi at the Royal Geographical Society from 29th September, we would really love to see you there.

Art, ballet & more globes

We have been a little quiet recently… but with good reason we promise.

Let’s start with the grand unveiling of Yinka Shonibare’s fantastic ballerina for the Royal Opera House in London. Yinka is an extraordinary sculpture, installation and fine artist; who has exhibited on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square, and has been put forward for the Turner Prize.  He was asked to produce a piece of art to adorn what they ROH described as the, “dullest corner of the building” and with this concept he wanted to bring to life a ballerina to represent the beauty and life on the inside of the Opera House.

We have worked with Yinka on many projects, and he commissioned us to produce the globe for his spectacular ballerina sculpture, which formed the head of the arabesque statue.  We were invited to the unveiling which took place on Tuesday, with a bubbly & canapé reception (of course we said Yes).

The magical orb was revealed to a street of excited VIPs, paperazzi and passer bys, with a burst of opera music as the ballerina pirouetted in her stunning tutu.  The real ballerina, (Melissa Hamilton of the Royal Ballet) has had her graceful arabesque captured in art, and was hugely excited to see the final piece, which will be spin on the hour and be illuminated by night. We were very proud to see our specialised globe involved in such an exciting project, and it is an honour to be cemented on the iconic London building for over 5 years. Yinka has spoken about the globe head and the reasons behind it, ” I wanted to make her a metaphor for humanity, for inclusiveness, not just a portrait”

Spot our globe! Photo courtesy of the Royal Opera House London

In other news we have completed the Churchill Globe, and it looks mighty impressive! (see photo below – top center)  Measuring over 50 inches in diameter and stood on a grand handmade oak base, the final colour wash was finished last week, and our team’s hard work has certainly paid off.  The globe will be featuring along with many others in the Bellerby Collection at the Royal Geographical Society in September.  The exhibition, entitled, “Geographical Blueprint: The Art of the Handcrafted Globe”  will display a large collection of our handmade globes, as well as specialist artist globe section – we are so, SO excited!

 Bye-bye for now from the globe family, have a lovely weekend.

Aeroplanes, Aston Martin & Vintage Adverts

The Geneva Aviation Show (EBACE) is set to take place next week, and we are so excited to announce that our newest globe to the Bellerby Family will make its debut amongst some of the world’s finest aircraft and aviation officials (photo below).

Our new stand is almost a meter high, and boasts a fully rotating, beautiful free spinning 80cm globe. The base itself is made from aluminum by Aston Martin Heritage Engineers and features a sleek, sophisticated design.  The globe, as always is lovingly crafted by hand and finished with beautiful paint washes.

The air show is held at Geneva Palexpo Centre (just next to the Geneva Airport) and plays host to numerous aircraft with representation from all manufacturers, specifically aimed at business aviation.  Sounds so interesting, and is set to be their best year yet!

Other things making us happy this week are our *new* globey stationery, the fantastic Bauhaus show at the Barbican;  planning our exhibition at the Royal Geographic Society, and these adverts by Papert Koenig Lois, which were deemed too “risqué”  in the mid 60s.  Have a lovely week!