46° 25′ N 20° 19′ E
Bespoke terrestrial globes
Born from a lifelong passion for maps and the stories they represent.
Hand painted
Colours and relief shading applied by brush gives each one of our globes its own unique character.
More than 9900 hand placed labels
Our custom cartography allows you to lose yourself in a world rich in detail.
Hand painted, customisable terrestrial globes 637 mm/25 inches in diameter (scale: 1:20 million), embedded in an elegant walnut table.
Starting at 9900€* including some of our customisation options. We ship worldwide.
Contact us to discuss a commission.
*Additional VAT and/or customs charges may be applicable depending on your destination country.
Our Methods
The process
Our method is based on a traditional globe making technique called goring, in which the contours of the land and the text labels are printed on gores – vertical slices of the world map – with flat washes of watercolor applied on them before being glued to the sphere with utmost precision. We use 12 gores on our current model. The two poles get their own little circular pieces of map, 5 cm in diameter, called chalotte. Once the glue dried, coastline and relief shading begins, also by watercolor. In the final step we apply a number of layers that seal the artwork and protect it from chemical reactions and UV light, after which we gradually build up the final, thickest layer consisting of a durable synthetic resin against wear and mechanical damage.
The mould we use to build the spheres required one-time CNC machining to make it as precise as possible, and we do print out the map contours with modern printers, but otherwise no machine tools are used in the entire process. Everything is done by hand, and we intentionally keep it that way. We do believe that it shows in the character of the final product.
Vision first, speed second
Our aim is to release uncompromisingly beautiful objects into the wide world and therefore every decision about optimising any of our processes comes with careful deliberation. Every tool, technique and material is chosen primarily with the product’s final look in mind, and only secondly their ease of use and up front cost. We do make some compromises where we are forced to, but even then we keep in the corner of our mind that we should revisit and tame the abandoned method if we feel it can be more authentic to the spirit of traditional globe making, or simply result in a better experience for the owner in a way that can be seen, touched or even heard.
A world map to lose yourself in
“I am told there are people who do not care for maps, and I find it hard to believe.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
Our current base map offers exceptionally fine detail for a globe of this size with more than 9900 named objects.
We use our own in-house cartography with each label placed by hand, so every new name that appears on our maps is the result of a conscious decision to make sure all elements are in harmony with the rest.
We want our globes to serve a purpose that is beyond aesthetics and education. Our intent is to present you with a world so rich in detail that it will enable your mind to roam freely in it, get inspired, reflect on your travels, your reads, or simply explore out of pure pleasure for years to come.
Meet “The Blue Danube”, our first floor standing base model. It is a sturdy piece of furniture made of walnut or other wood of your choice. For varnishing we chose shellac, a natural resin with a history that goes back 3 millennia and is used on antique string instruments, among others.
We recommend walnut due to its high contrast patterns of dark and light areas that pop beautifully even from beneath a thick layer of dark shellac. However, both the wood and the varnish used can be customised to achieve the look that you expect. An alternative is oak, but it can, in principle, be any other wood of your choice. Shellac can be replaced by modern synthetic resins that can achieve a variety of looks and potentially make the piece more resistant to damage and wear.
The horizon ring – the circular section on the top of the table – has a hand colored design on top, which typically includes a calendar ring, the classical zodiac signs, the wind rose, a degree scale and other various elements traditionally used in marine and celestial navigation. These too can be changed and extended based on your needs, with your favourite quotes or notable life events marked on the calendar, for example. Small, hand colored illustrations in the empty spaces are also an option.
The globe itself is sitting on four roller bearings, the casings of which are embedded in the wood itself. These are high quality, durable industrial parts sourced from reputable manufacturers. They come in two possible variants: nylon balls in stainless steel casing, or polymer bearings – each with their own favourable characteristics in terms of noise or smoothness of movement.
Customisation Options
We are open to discussing any idea you might have to make your globe as personalised for you as we can. Here are a few ideas to kick-start your imagination.
- Get your globe hand-painted in any combination of colours.
- Add and/or highlight any town of your choice, including ones that would not normally be shown on a map of this scale.
- Highlight the route of a memorable trip you made on land, sea or in the air.
- Add dates/text/illustrations of your memorable events in a certain location.
- Add phantom islands or other fictional features.
- Mark the location of famous shipwrecks or other historic objects.
- Display your favourite quotes on the globe (typically in the oceans) or on the globe stand.
- Add unique hand drawn illustrations to your globe (famous buildings, ships, animals, sea monsters, portraits of your legendary explorers, etc.). We work with a number of local artists and are happy to find the right person for your vision.
The Team
The Globemaker
My name is Gábor Kovács and I’m a globemaker based in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary. My passion for maps and globes goes back to my childhood and it first formed through (and to a large extent is still fueled by) the stories they represent for me – real or fictional. One of the first influences that made my facination with the world apparent were the works of Jules Verne, and later travelers, explorers, wilderness activists like Ernest Shackleton, Freya Stark, Wilfred Thesiger, Robert Marshall, and among my own countrymen Arminius Vámbéry and Aurél Stein.
For me people like them, as well as the globe itself as an object symbolises an almost bottomless well one can tap into to quench an innate thirst for exploration. It is, indeed, a thirst that, once formed in the (un)lucky host, is impossible to suppress: the yearning for the unknown and especially the obscure, the seemingly almost unknowable, the mythical mountain to climb “because it is there”.
In 2020 I decided to follow my passion and make the unlikely transition from my former career into a globemaker. It was never a question for me that globes, when done correctly – crafted into beautiful hand made objects kept and cared for for life – could be among the most perfect expressions of my inner world.
The Woodworkers
I was very lucky in my search for woodworkers for my project. I needed someone who could, and was happy to, jump the high bar that is recreating something similar to those beautiful classic furniture pieces that had set my standards, the kind of globe stands my respected 19th century and earlier globemakers used to make. I contacted several potential workshops across the country, but most of these were not ready to step out of their comfort zone of doing much more generic work. I was either turned down or was referred by them to someone else. Eventually, however, through a random recommendation, I found just the kind of professionals I was looking for, right here, in my own hometown.
Their excitement for the project, their decades of experience with restoring antique furniture and, as it turned out, even an 18th century globe stand, made them the perfect fit for the job.
Week after week, during my visits to their workshop – just a short walk away from my home – I was astonished by the incremental results as the first stand (I could hardly call it a prototype) was neatly coming together.
Contact us to discuss commissions
To inquire about personalisation or to get a quote (incl. shipping), please contact us at
or call us on
+36 50 116 0246