Kanchipuram
— — a city of temples and looms, working the same hours it has for centuries.
Not only on a wall.
“One of the seven sacred cities of Hindu tradition, Kanchipuram sits on the Vegavathi River about seventy-five kilometres from the coast. The streets around the Ekambareswarar and Kailasanathar temples carry the sound of looms; the silk sarees woven here, in mulberry silk with zari borders, are sent across India and around the world. Mornings begin with bells and the smell of jasmine garlands. — from the studio
Kanchipuram, 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.
Kanchipuram is a temple city in northern Tamil Nadu, about 75 kilometres southwest of Chennai on the Vegavathi River. With a population near 165,000 it serves as the headquarters of Kanchipuram district and is one of the Sapta Puri, the seven sacred cities of Hindu tradition. From the 6th to 9th centuries it was the capital of the Pallava dynasty, who built many of its earliest sandstone temples. The city is uncommon in holding major shrines to both Shiva and Vishnu, drawing pilgrims from both traditions.
The Kailasanathar Temple, completed under the Pallava king Rajasimha around 700 CE, is the oldest surviving structure in the city and one of the earliest stone temples in southern India. Its sandstone walls carry some of the oldest extant fresco fragments in Tamil country. The much larger Ekambareswarar Temple has a 59-metre gopuram raised by the Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya in the 16th century, and an inner courtyard built around a mango tree said to be 3,500 years old.
Looms run in the city year-round, but the calendar bends around the temple festivals. The Brahmotsavam at Varadaraja Perumal stretches across ten days each May, and the Panguni Uthiram procession draws crowds in March or April. The Garuda Seva, when the deity is carried through the streets on a great wooden bird, is one of the most attended events of the year in northern Tamil Nadu. The cooler months from November to February are the easier season to walk the temple wards.