Mirror Spheres Built to Your Drawing
Hollow and large metal spheres from ∅6mm to ∅3500mm. Shenzhen Maoping has formed, welded and polished them since 2007 for landscape architects, sculptors and contractors in more than a thousand projects worldwide.
- What we make
- Hollow and large metal spheres, hemispheres, globes, water features and fire pit balls in steel, brass and aluminium.
- Who we serve
- Landscape architects, sculptors, contractors, lighting makers and vessel fabricators worldwide.
- What we solve
- Sizes that will not fit a container, seams that must disappear, and finishes that have to survive outdoors.
- Why buy from us
- We are the original ball manufacturer in China. Other suppliers buy their balls from us.
Three Ranges One Factory
Every sphere on this site is formed, welded, ground and finished in the same workshop, which is why a facade order of 148 pieces and a single ∅3.6 metre sculpture look like they belong together.
Metal Balls
Hollow spheres from ∅6mm bearing-size balls up to ∅3500mm architectural orbs stamped water-pressured or spun in stainless steel carbon steel brass and aluminium.
6 categories
Art Metal Balls
Water features globes water drops pattern balls and fire pit balls built to order for landscape architects sculptors and contractors.
5 categories
Metal Hemispheres
Half balls in stainless steel carbon steel brass and aluminium with a 45° welding groove so two halves close into a true sphere.
4 categoriesProduct Categories
Fifteen categories covering 98 products from bearing-size balls to architectural orbs.
Large Steel Balls
Mirror polished hollow spheres from ∅200mm to ∅3500mm for public art landscape and architecture.
12 products
Hollow Steel Balls
Stamped water pressured or spun hollow spheres from ∅6mm to ∅3500mm with drilling tapping and threaded holes.
13 products
Stainless Steel Gazing Balls
Candy and metallic coloured mirror spheres finished by vacuum metalizing titanium electroplating or spray painting.
13 products
Hollow Brass Balls
Mirror polished H62 brass spheres for lighting jewellery sculpture and roof finials with tapped threads on request.
9 products
Hollow Aluminium Balls
Light A6061 aluminium spheres for suspended art elements and lampshades from ∅6mm to ∅3500mm.
3 products
Specialty Steel Spheres
One-off sphere types that sit outside the main ranges: chrome balls for VFX perforated spheres egg shapes and spheres with bases or hooks.
12 products
Stainless Steel Spheres Water Features
Fountain spheres with an internal pipe and funnel top so water sheets evenly over the whole mirror surface.
7 products
Stainless Steel Globes
World globe sculptures with hand bent map projections tube frames and optional rotation tilt and lighting.
6 products
Stainless Steel Water Drop Sculptures
Lifelike tear drop and raindrop forms water pressured to any curvature and height you specify.
3 products
Garden Steel Pattern Balls
Cut pattern spheres that read as a mirror sculpture by day and a light pattern by night.
2 products
Fire Pit Balls
Hand drawn plasma cut fire pit spheres in carbon steel finished in heat resistant paint or left to develop a rust patina.
4 products
Stainless Steel Hemispheres
Stamped and spun half balls from ∅6mm to ∅3500mm for vessel ends mixing bowls ceiling domes and safety mirrors.
7 products
Carbon Steel Hemispheres
Spun half balls with a 45° welding groove up to 16mm thick the starting point for a fire pit ball or a welded sphere.
3 products
Brass Hemispheres
Mirror polished or raw H62 brass half balls for door knockers lampshades jewellery sculpture and church roofs.
4 products
Aluminium Hemispheres
Light aluminium half balls stamped to ∅700mm or hand assembled to ∅3500mm with powder coating for lighting.
2 productsHow a Sphere Is Made
Sheet becomes two halves, the halves close at the equator, and the seam disappears under grinding and polishing. Which forming route we use decides the size, the wall thickness and whether the seam ever shows.
Projects We Have Built
A ∅3.6 metre sphere quartered for a container, 148 facade spheres in Norway, 7,100 suspended spheres in Moscow. These are the jobs that set the standard for everything else we make.
3.6 Meter Large Steel Balls For Santa Fe Opera Theater
The sphere reached site in a standard 40ft container and was assembled from quarter sections.
Santa Fe, United States
Large Stainless Steel Gazing Globes Installed In Singapore
The installation's audio recordings feature familiar everyday sounds, from suburban traffic and MRT trains to chatter in wet markets and coffee shops.
Singapore
Hollow Steel Balls Wall In Norway
The facade marks the place as a bit weird, wild and beautiful, reflecting Porsgrunn's identity as a future oriented cultural city.
Porsgrunn, Norway
Large Aluminium Spheres Sculpture By The Sea Cottesloe
The Wanderer was installed at Sea Cottesloe and at Willinga Park Equestrian Centre in 2015.
Cottesloe and Willinga Park, Australia
Suspended Hollow Stainless Steel Spheres For Publicis Russia
The Sun Lion reads across the workplace as a single suspended image assembled from thousands of mirror spheres.
Moscow, Russia
Illuminated Large Metal Ball For Верейская Plaza
The sphere reads as a mirror landmark in daylight and as illuminated lettering after dark.
Moscow, RussiaInside the Factory
Presses, spinning and water pressuring under one roof in Pingshan, Shenzhen. Every photograph below is from our own workshop.
Watch the Line Run
A short film of production at the Maoping workshop, hosted on YouTube.
What Customers Say
Comments from an artist in the United States, a contractor in France and an artist in Australia.
Knowledge Centre
Material choices, forming routes, finishes and shipping limits written for the person specifying the job.
How To Build Your Own Fire Pit Ball
Seven steps from choosing a hemisphere size to lighting the first fire in your own hand cut fire pit ball.
Read the guideMetal Sphere Material Guide
Which alloy belongs on your sphere and what each one costs you in weight corrosion resistance and finish.
Read the guide
Sphere Size And Shipping Guide
The diameters that fit a container the ones that need a flat rack and what happens above both.
Read the guideQuestions Buyers Ask First
What sizes of metal sphere can you make?
What is the largest sphere you can ship?
Is there a minimum order?
How long is the lead time?
Which stainless grade should I specify?
Do you work from a drawing or only from a catalogue?
Send Your Size Thickness and Quantity
Tell us the diameter, the wall thickness, the material and where it is going. You will get a real number back, not a price list.