Marbles are one of the oldest children's toys in existence, played with since Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. Yet somewhere along the way they ended up sold loose in plastic bags, their individuality hidden and their appeal reduced to a handful of identical glass balls. Manu and Claire, the founders of Billes & Co, thought they deserved better.
The Idea Behind the Brand
Manu and Claire set out to research how marbles had been presented and played with across different eras and countries. In the United States, they discovered that marbles were once sold to children in beautiful presentation boxes — arranged in rows by type, displayed like precious stones. That idea became the foundation for Billes & Co: a French atelier dedicated to presenting the world's finest glass marbles in beautifully designed, themed boxes.
The marbles themselves are sourced from Mexico, which produces the highest quality glass playing marbles available today. They arrive at the Billes & Co workshop in France, where every marble is inspected and sorted by hand — checked for size and quality, then arranged by colour, texture, and the world they suggest. The boxes are illustrated by Manu, with inner compartments folded from coloured paper to hold each marble in place. Everything is made from natural materials — cardboard and paper, no plastic — and assembled by hand before the box is closed and sent out.
The Collections
Each Billes & Co box is built around a theme — a "universe", as Manu and Claire call them — that gives the collection its character. The Magic Forest Box brings together marbles in deep greens and earthy tones; the Space Mission Box is midnight blues and galactic swirls; the Jungle Box goes bold with tropical colours.
Jungle Box by Billes & Co
The Butterfly Anamorphic Box is worth a special mention. Open it and you find 59 marbles — purples, pinks, aquas, and golds — arranged in their compartments. Tilt the box and a hidden image appears at the base: flying butterflies, revealed through an anamorphic design developed in the Billes & Co workshop. The Pink Fairy Box uses the same technique, with 25 marbles — five of them glow-in-the-dark — arranged over a hidden pattern.
For a first introduction, the mini boxes are a great starting point. The Lovely Marbles, Miami Wave, and Seashell Mini Boxes bring the same craftsmanship to a smaller, more giftable format — perfect as a stocking filler or birthday addition.
Butterfly Anamorphic Box by Billes & Co
Why We Carry Billes & Co
Marbles have broad appeal — genuinely engaging from age three upwards, usable in marble runs, loose parts play, and traditional marble games, or simply satisfying to collect and arrange. Billes & Co take that appeal seriously, presenting each collection as something worth keeping rather than just playing with. The boxes are beautiful objects in their own right, and a collection built up over birthdays and Christmases becomes something a child genuinely treasures.
They're also one of the more distinctive gifts in our collection — the kind of thing people haven't seen before, presented in a way that does the work on arrival.
Browse our full Billes & Co collection, from mini boxes to the full-size themed collections. All orders are available with our premium gift wrapping — hand-wrapped in FSC-certified, plastic-free paper with a personalised message, sent directly to the recipient.
