shown on ceramic, 12-inch tilePeople's Republic of China

a small car-free island off Xiamen, in southern Fujian

Gulangyu

— — a piano heard through an open window.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.

— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand

— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines

— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall

— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround

— a note from the studio

“A small island, just under two square kilometres, a five-minute ferry off the Xiamen waterfront in southern Fujian. No cars. Old colonial villas climb the hills under banyans, and pianos play through open windows often enough that the place is called Piano Island. The lanes wind up toward Sunlight Rock, then drop back to the seawall where the city is close enough to see and far enough to miss.

from the studio

— bring it home

Gulangyu, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?

One tile — square or rectangle.

How big?

the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand

6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb

Surface finish

A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.

How it sits

A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.

$58

Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.

— size

6 × 6 in

15 cm

— weighs

1.6 lb

solid in the hand

— surface

ceramic, hand-finished

art rests beneath a thin glossy finish

— from

Knoxville, TN

our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies

— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Gulangyu

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.

— the place

Gulangyu is a small island of about 1.88 square kilometres lying just off the Xiamen waterfront in Fujian Province, separated from the city by a 600-metre strait. After the First Opium War and the 1843 opening of Xiamen as a treaty port, thirteen foreign nations established consulates, churches, schools, and villas across the island. UNESCO inscribed Gulangyu as a World Heritage Site in 2017 for this unusually intact early-twentieth-century international settlement. The island is reached by ferry and remains closed to motor vehicles.

— informed by UNESCO World Heritage — Gulangyu, Wikipedia — Gulangyu

— the stone

The architecture is the reason for the listing. More than a thousand historic buildings remain across the island: Amoy Deco villas, Romanesque churches, the 1882 former British Consulate, the Catholic Church of 1916, and the wooden verandas of merchants who built fortunes between Manila, Singapore, and the Fujian coast. Granite from the hills underlies almost everything, with stuccoed brick above. The island also holds China's only piano museum, set inside the Shuzhuang Garden, with a collection of more than a hundred instruments.

— informed by UNESCO World Heritage — Gulangyu

— the visit

Ferries depart from the Xiamen International Cruise Terminal for tourists and from the Lujiang Pier for residents; the crossing takes about five minutes. A daily cap of around 50,000 visitors has been in force since 2014 to protect the island's fabric. The high point is Sunlight Rock at roughly 93 metres above sea level, with a wide view back toward Xiamen. Most lanes are walkable in an afternoon; the best hours are early morning before the day crowds and the hour before the last ferry.

— informed by Wikipedia — Gulangyu

— where

People's Republic of China · Siming District, Xiamen, Fujian

— elevation

93 m · 305 ft

— position

24.4467° N · 118.0667° E

— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.

1 km E

Xiamen

city

1 km C

Sunlight Rock

summit

1 km S

Shuzhuang Garden

garden

Gulangyu

Xiamen

Sunlight Rock

Shuzhuang Garden

— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Gulangyu — and about bringing the piece home.

— about the place

Gulangyu is a small island of about 1.88 square kilometres off the Xiamen waterfront in Fujian Province, southern China, reached by a five-minute ferry across a 600-metre strait.

UNESCO inscribed it in 2017 as an unusually intact international settlement from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with consulates, churches, schools, and villas built by thirteen foreign nations and returning Chinese merchants.

The island has one of the highest concentrations of pianos in China and hosts the country's only piano museum, in the Shuzhuang Garden, with more than a hundred historic instruments donated by the collector Hu Youyi.

Two ferry routes cross from Xiamen: the Xiamen International Cruise Terminal serves tourists, and Lujiang Pier serves Gulangyu residents. The crossing takes about five minutes.

No. The island has been closed to private motor vehicles for decades. Movement is on foot, with small electric carts for residents and limited service traffic.

Spring and autumn are the most comfortable. A daily visitor cap of around 50,000 has been enforced since 2014, so weekday mornings before the first crowds are the quietest hours.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for someone from Xiamen, a returning Fujianese family, or a piano student who knows the island's reputation. A Small or Coaster with a note from the studio holds the connection quietly.

The piece reads well in Asian-modern, treaty-port colonial, and warm minimalist interiors. It sits comfortably with dark teak, rattan, and pale walls.

Yes. The Voynich stained-glass treatment carries enough colour to anchor a quiet room without crowding it, which is the move warm-minimalist designers are using now.

A single Large is the usual choice above a console. Above a sofa, a 4-tile Mural holds the proportion; a 9-tile Mural is for the wall that defines the room.

Yes. Order the Dura Satin or Matte finish for vertical installations near steam or splash. The colour is infused into the ceramic surface and does not lift with cleaning.

A soft microfibre cloth and water. No solvents, no abrasive pads. The thin glossy finish on the wall-art piece keeps the surface easy to wipe.

— if this one stayed with you