Manila
— — a sunset the whole bay turns to watch.
Not only on a wall.
“Manila opens to the Pacific through the wide curve of its bay. Inside the walls of Intramuros, the Spanish colonial street grid still runs straight; outside them, sixteen cities and over fourteen million people press against the lagoon and the river. Roxas Boulevard takes the sunset; San Agustin Church takes the quiet. The city moves on jeepneys, ferries, and the long memory of the bay. from the studio
Manila, 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.
Manila is the capital of the Philippines, on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon. The city proper holds about 1.8 million people; the wider Metro Manila region holds over fourteen million across sixteen cities. The Spanish established the walled city of Intramuros in 1571 under Miguel López de Legazpi, on a Tagalog settlement that had stood there for centuries. The Pasig River bisects the city, running from Laguna de Bay west into Manila Bay.
Intramuros, the historic walled city, encloses about sixty-four hectares behind walls of volcanic adobe stone built between 1571 and the 1640s. The walls reach roughly three metres thick and eight metres high in places, with seven gates and several bastions still in good repair. Inside stands San Agustin Church, completed in 1607 and the oldest stone church in the country, and Fort Santiago at the river mouth. UNESCO lists San Agustin under the Baroque Churches of the Philippines World Heritage Site.
Manila Bay sunsets are one of the best-known evening scenes in Southeast Asia. The bay opens to the west and is wide enough — about nineteen kilometres at the mouth — that the sun sets over open water from a city street. Roxas Boulevard runs the seafront for several kilometres; people gather along its seawall most clear evenings. The light reads orange and amber in the dry season from December through May, softer and pinker through the wet months.