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A Small London Company That Makes Beautiful Globes
- 50CNT 10y agoWhilst not the same thing, these reminded me of the color 3d printers by MCor[0]. I wonder whether you could do a colored globe with actual mountain ranges on something like that. [0]http://mcortechnologies.com/3d-printers/matrix-300-plus/ http://mcortechnologies.com/3d-printers/matrix-300-plus/ Edit: Found some pictures of a topographic print [http://mcortechnologies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/10603646_867608479916851_2889663454906018404_n-2.jpg http://mcortechnologies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/10603...] No globes though.
- elcapitan 10y agoWow, the topographic print is great. Although the technology is already quite old, I still get shudders somehow when looking at mountains and valleys in Google Maps. Creating little relief maps of the world around us would be awesome. That used to be something that public offices would showcase in their entrance, but it was a huge individual effort to create them. Today you could feed OSM data into a 3d printer, very nice.
- caf 10y agoEven at the size of the Churchill globe mentioned in the article, Mt Everest would still be less than a millimetre above sea level. So I don't think the mountain ranges would be very noticeable.
- 50CNT 10y agoHmm, I guess there's a point there, since it only has 0.1 mm accuracy. I think it'd still look cool with satellite imagery though.
- nathancahill 10y agoInteresting 6 minute short about the company: https://vimeo.com/63511505 https://vimeo.com/63511505
- ak39 10y agoLovely. It's a great example of obliquity in action. He's not interested in doing it for the sake of making money ... he's making globes because he has always wanted to make globes perfectly. The money is coming in because of his method of making the globes. Rare quality and workmanship are conspicuous aspects of his products. The price and demand are byproducts.
- xufi 10y agoI used to love globes as a kid. This os pretty amazing
- UnoriginalGuy 10y agoI'm surprised there are no globe makers that make oblate spheroid-shaped globes. While the sphere shape isn't inherently "wrong," a oblate spheroid is more accurate because the earth is compressed. Would just be a cool niche to have scientifically more accurate globes. Stack Exchange about the earth's compression: http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/108/why-is-earth-not-a-sphere http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/108/why-is-e... Scientific American article about the earth's true shape: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-is-not-round/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-is-not-round...
- zintagon 10y agoRoughly figuring, that would be about a 1mm deviation for a 30cm globe. I don't think anyone would notice, especially on a "bumpy" globe. It might be less than manufacturing tolerances.
- ptaipale 10y agoWhilst perfectionists might appreciate the idea, the difference between a normal round sphere and Earth's spheroid shape wouldn't be noticeable in a desktop-sized globe, to the bare eye. And you could maybe detect mountain ranges by running your fingers on them, but not really by seeing them? It would be for those of us who like to apply a fairly big caliper to our globes...
- masklinn 10y ago> And you could maybe detect mountain ranges by running your fingers on them, but not really by seeing them? On a 30cm globe, the Everest would peak ~200µm above the globe's average surface (though it would possibly/probably be too small to even represent), the tibetan plateau would be ~100µm above the average surface. It seems detectable[0] but would require a pretty ridiculously smooth globe, I don't think a plastic-and-paper globe would work. [0] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130916110853.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130916110853.h... > The smallest pattern that could be distinguished from the non-patterned surface had grooves with a wavelength of 760 nanometres and an amplitude of only 13 nanometres.
- batrat 10y ago$1500 for a desk globe? not too shabby. I wonder how much it will cost to make a 3d printed one. And while searching i found this: https://scandy.co/welcome https://scandy.co/welcome. They are too small...
- kbody 10y agoCompletely different thing, it's like comparing apples to cucumbers, at least for the specific handcrafted globes. It's about the crafting behind it rather than the object.
- Vaebn 10y agoYou are probably searching for this: www.littleplanetfactory.com
- mturmon 10y agoThanks for that. Very cool: https://www.littleplanetfactory.com/products/wmap-cosmic-background-radiation-globe https://www.littleplanetfactory.com/products/wmap-cosmic-bac...
- St_Hawk 10y agoThanks for sharing! In full disclosure, I work with Scandy ;). We are about to announce our larger spheres. We are testing out a 6" and a 7.5" Scandy Sphere. I'd love to know what you think. https://www.instagram.com/p/BFg9hq0jjGL/?taken-by=scandy.co https://www.instagram.com/p/BFg9hq0jjGL/?taken-by=scandy.co
- keithpeter 10y agoThanks for posting this. Quote from OA... "Bellerby says it takes around six months to complete just one of the globes, which range from £999 ($1440) for the smallest to £59,000 ($85,000) for the Churchill." William Morris[1] was a socialist and paid decent wages and provided good jobs. He did it by making furniture and wallpapers that only the seriously rich could afford. I suspect we will see more of this craft production of nice things at costs a large multiple of the cheapest mass-produced items. (OA lead me to a teaching idea...[2], and it turns out that gore projection is full of compromises and trade-offs [3]) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris [2] http://www.gma.org/surfing/imaging/globe.html http://www.gma.org/surfing/imaging/globe.html [3] https://www.mapthematics.com/Downloads/Gores.pdf https://www.mapthematics.com/Downloads/Gores.pdf
- semi-extrinsic 10y agoTaking a stroll through London's Chelsea Design Quarter, you'll find there is indeed a substantial market for craft production of nice things that cost a serious amount more than the Ikea version. Have a look at Catchpole and Rye, for instance. They make absolutely beautiful bathroom fittings, handmade in Kent: http://www.catchpoleandrye.com/products/taps/bathroom-taps/ http://www.catchpoleandrye.com/products/taps/bathroom-taps/
- keithpeter 10y agoGlasgow 1980s in the tenements around Templeton's factory. They had Belfast sinks with taps like the more retro ones on that page. Just made in brass locally. Strange how stuff changes - the objects that surround us.
- anexprogrammer 10y agoAll the stuff people ripped out for being old fashioned. Probably with the exception of stuff from the 70s, I think every look inevitably makes a comeback, because it looks old fashioned!
- cli 10y ago
- ezequiel-garzon 10y agoI admire the venture, but it leaves me wondering: don't those manual touches lead to inevitably less precise globes? I get the feeling that the result may be more beautiful and such, but necessarily less accurate.
- markdown 10y agoI imagine you exhausted, lost deep in the Kalahari. With a roar of frustrating you hurl your desk globe into a ravine. Should've brought a map.
- doob 10y agoNah...it's just Zuckerberg plotting world domination Churchill style.
- ezequiel-garzon 10y agoWell, the founder brings up the issue of accuracy: he developed his own cartography, as he found the available sources full of errors. That makes me think that he's interested in delivering not just an artistic object, but a faithful representation. Maybe they use an automated process for borders, landmarks, etc. Go figure... PS: I wouldn't hurl any of those babies =)
- f_allwein 10y agoHere's another beautiful globe, with more traditional cartography, but made in glass. The company that sells it specializes in nice craft items (this link in German only): http://www.manufactum.de/globen-ganze-welt-kugel-c-1751/ http://www.manufactum.de/globen-ganze-welt-kugel-c-1751/
- aaron695 10y ago> They also take commissions. Bellerby says that they have completed a Pangea globe (“the ultimate historical globe”) but they don’t advertise projects like that. I wish these things were more the rule. There's a lot of planets around past and future. Along with ditching the euro centric north is always up top. You learn a lot by looking at a globe sidways since you loss the pre conditioned bias you'll have from standard flat maps.
- masklinn 10y ago> Along with ditching the euro centric north is always up top. You learn a lot by looking at a globe sidways since you loss the pre conditioned bias you'll have from standard flat maps. In the second-to-last picture, a relatively large globe seems mounted in a double gimbal, so it doesn't really have an up/down.
- paulpauper 10y agoThe Churchill globe is enormous https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive/_html/_items/wc0001_4.jpg https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive/_html/_it... I wonder why it weighs 700 pounds if it's hollow
- VLM 10y agoIf its wood, to eliminate sag as its rotated it would have to be quite thick and interestingly engineered.
- raldi 10y agoOpening sentence of the article: "Looking at a globe close-up is a wonderful thing." And then, not even a single close-up photo of a globe.
- colinthompson 10y agoA quick google image search turns up a few: http://www.bellerbyandco.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_20150519_134915.jpg http://www.bellerbyandco.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05... http://www.bellerbyandco.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_20150518_043250.jpg http://www.bellerbyandco.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05... Not the clearest, but better than nothing! Looks like their blog might be the place to check.
- jrcii 10y agoI'm happy that these are out there. I make a point to find the highest quality versions of the products I buy, the product research is somewhat of a hobby. I researched globes a couple years ago and was disappointed that globes appeared to be one of the only products I couldn't find a high quality version of. Even the best I found in construction quality were mediocre and had inaccurate maps.
- lalaithion 10y agoNote that they are, however, wrong about the fact that globes give no distortion; viewing any three dimensional object results in it being projected onto the back of your eyeball which results in distortion. In cartography, we call this the General perspective projection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Perspective_projection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Perspective_projection
- samsamoa 10y agoSince we experience this distortion for anything we look at, aren't our brains equipped to handle it? Can we really call it a distortion if that is true?
- themartorana 10y agoReminds me of how a new eyeglass prescription may make the edges of images coming through the lenses look curved or distorted, but after a couple days everything looks straight again.
- has2k1 10y agoAlso consider that the brain already corrects for the upside down image on the retina, and the stereoscopic input due to having two eyes. The brain's plasticity is slightly underrated.
- stillworks 10y agoExtremely Beautiful. Very Cool. Very Expensive. Where is the value ?
- ekmartin 10y agoHere: "Extremely Beautiful. Very Cool."
- redxblood 10y agoI'm from Uruguay, the president they talk about there left office around a year ago, bit late for the facts!
- redxblood 10y agoI'm from Uruguay, the president they talk about there left office around a year ago, bit late for the facts!
- dharma1 10y agoi always thought it would be nice to have digital globe with a touch screen - maybe once bendable OLEDs are cheap enough