Hispaniola
— the island the mountains never gave up.
Not only on a wall.
“The Cordillera Central runs the spine of the island and lifts Pico Duarte to a little over three thousand metres, the highest point in the Caribbean. The Dominican side falls east to the sugar plains and the Samaná coast; the Haitian side falls west to the Gulf of Gonâve. Between them the ridges hold cloud forest, pine, and the rivers that feed both countries. The island carries its weight in its mountains and in the long Atlantic light that meets the Caribbean off Cabo Engaño. from the studio
Hispaniola, 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.
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.
The place, in three passes.
Hispaniola is the second-largest island in the Caribbean by area, about 76,000 square kilometres, after Cuba. It is shared by two sovereign countries: the Dominican Republic occupies the eastern roughly two-thirds, and the Republic of Haiti occupies the western third. Together the island holds more than 22 million people. The Cordillera Central runs through the centre and lifts Pico Duarte to 3,098 metres, the highest summit in the Caribbean. The Taíno called the island Ayiti and Quisqueya; Columbus reached the north coast on his first voyage in December 1492.
The Cordillera Central holds cloud forest above roughly 1,800 metres and Hispaniolan pine, Pinus occidentalis, above 2,000, the only native pine in the Caribbean. Trails up Pico Duarte run from La Ciénaga or Mata Grande and take two or three days return; nights at the high camps drop near freezing in January and February. The eastern lowlands carry the trade winds across sugar plain and palm; the Dominican north coast on the Atlantic side draws stronger surf than the Caribbean south coast around Santo Domingo.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November, with the highest risk for Hispaniola in August and September. The dry season runs December through April and gives the most reliable mountain weather and the clearest reef visibility. Carnival fills Santo Domingo and Santiago through February, with the big parades on the last Sunday of the month and on Dominican Independence Day, 27 February. Easter Week, Semana Santa, is the country's largest domestic travel week; coastal towns and the Samaná Peninsula fill in advance.