Spitsbergen
— — the island the sun forgets for four months.
Not only on a wall.
“The largest island of Svalbard, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Longyearbyen, the main settlement, sits at 78° north. Polar bears outnumber residents. The sun does not rise from late October to mid-February, then does not set from late April to late August. Glaciers cover most of what isn't sea. from the studio
Spitsbergen, 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.
Spitsbergen is the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago, covering about 37,673 km² in the Arctic Ocean roughly midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Norway holds sovereignty under the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, which also grants citizens of signatory states equal rights to live and work on the islands. Longyearbyen, the administrative centre, sits at 78°13' N on the island's west coast and counts about 2,400 residents. Other settlements include the Russian mining town of Barentsburg and the research station at Ny-Ålesund.
The polar night runs from roughly 26 October to 15 February, during which the sun does not rise above the horizon. The midnight sun runs in reverse, from about 19 April to 23 August. Between, the island moves through long blue twilights that landscape photographers travel for. In open country outside Longyearbyen, residents are required by law to carry a firearm against polar bears, of which Svalbard holds roughly 300 within the archipelago itself.
Glaciers cover roughly 60 percent of Spitsbergen; the largest, Austfonna on neighbouring Nordaustlandet, is among the biggest ice caps in Europe. Average July temperatures hover around 6°C in Longyearbyen and well below freezing for most of the year. The West Spitsbergen Current, a branch of the Gulf Stream, keeps the western fjords navigable for cruise traffic from late spring through early autumn while the eastern coast remains held by pack ice.