Jakarta
— — the city the rain remembers first.
Not only on a wall.
“Capital of Indonesia, on the northwest coast of Java. More than ten million people in the city proper and over thirty million across Jabodetabek, the surrounding region. Old Dutch warehouses still line the canals of Kota Tua. The Sudirman skyline rises behind them. Warungs open before dawn for nasi uduk and kopi tubruk. Two monsoons a year, and the wet one runs October through April.
Jakarta, 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.
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia, on the northwest coast of Java at the mouth of the Ciliwung River. The city proper holds about 10.6 million people. The Jabodetabek metropolitan area exceeds 33 million, one of the largest urban regions on earth. Founded as Sunda Kelapa, the settlement was renamed Batavia under Dutch East India Company rule and Jakarta after Indonesian independence in 1945. Soekarno-Hatta International Airport lies 20 kilometres west. A new administrative capital, Nusantara, is under construction on Borneo.
Thirteen rivers cross the city before reaching the Java Sea, the Ciliwung the largest. The northern districts have subsided by as much as 25 centimetres a year in places, among the fastest sinking ground of any major coastal city, driven by groundwater extraction beneath the porous Pleistocene clay. The Giant Sea Wall, part of the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development plan, is among the responses underway. The wet monsoon, October through April, regularly floods the older lowland kampungs. Drinking water for most residents still comes from bottled or tanker supply.
The historic centre, Kota Tua, holds Dutch colonial buildings from the 1700s around Fatahillah Square, with the Wayang Museum and the Maritime Museum on the harbour at Sunda Kelapa. The National Museum on Merdeka Square holds Southeast Asia's largest archaeological collection. Monas, the National Monument, rises 132 metres at the centre of the square. Traffic congestion is severe, but the TransJakarta busway and the new MRT line make the Sudirman spine walkable. The dry season, May through September, brings the most predictable days. Modest dress is appreciated at mosques and temples.