Astola Island
— — seven small hills the sea forgot to finish.
Not only on a wall.
“Pakistan's largest offshore island, about 25 kilometres south of the fishing town of Pasni. Local fishermen call it Jezira Haft Talar, the Island of Seven Hills. Uninhabited, ringed by limestone cliffs that drop straight into the water. The Sindh Wildlife Department made it the country's first Marine Protected Area in 2017. From the studio.
Astola Island, 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.
Astola Island sits about 25 kilometres south of Pasni in the Arabian Sea, the largest offshore island in Pakistan. It is roughly 6.7 kilometres long and 2.3 kilometres wide, a long limestone plateau that rises in seven low hills above the water — the name in local Balochi is Jezira Haft Talar, the Island of Seven Hills. There is no fresh water and no permanent population. Fishermen from the Makran coast camp on the eastern beach in the cooler months between September and May, when the Arabian Sea is calm enough to make the crossing in small boats.
The waters around the island were declared Pakistan's first Marine Protected Area in June 2017, covering roughly 40 square kilometres. The reefs hold one of the country's last surviving populations of hard corals, and the beaches are a known nesting site for the endangered green turtle and hawksbill turtle. Dolphins follow the small fishing boats out from Pasni. Whale sharks pass through in summer. The island sits inside a wider proposal to extend protection across the broader Astola seascape, advanced by IUCN and WWF-Pakistan.
There is no scheduled ferry. Visitors arrange a fishing boat from Pasni harbour, a crossing of about five hours each way depending on the swell. The window is roughly October through March; the southwest monsoon closes the sea the rest of the year. There are no facilities on the island — no jetty, no shelter, no fresh water. Campers bring their own. A small white shrine to the Hindu goddess Kali sits on the plateau, visited by occasional pilgrims from Karachi. The Pakistan Navy maintains an unstaffed light.