Chiang Mai
— — the lanterns the river carries north.
Not only on a wall.
“The old walled city sits in a square moat the Lanna kings drew in 1296. Inside it: teak temples, slow lanes, a Sunday street that fills with paper umbrellas and grilled banana. Above it all, Doi Suthep holds the western sky. In November the sky fills with lanterns for Yi Peng, and for a few hours the city is lit from underneath the clouds. from the studio
Chiang Mai, 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.
Chiang Mai sits on the Ping River in the foothills of northern Thailand, about 700 kilometres north of Bangkok. It was founded in 1296 by King Mengrai as the capital of the Lanna kingdom, and the square moat he laid out still frames the old city. The walled centre holds more than thirty active Buddhist temples, including Wat Phra Singh and Wat Chedi Luang. Above the city, Doi Suthep rises to 1,676 metres, with the gilded Wat Phra That Doi Suthep visible from the valley floor on clear mornings.
The Yi Peng festival falls each year on the full moon of the twelfth Lanna lunar month, usually November. Thousands of khom loi, paper lanterns lifted by hot air from a wax ring, are released after dusk from the riverbanks and from Mae Jo to the north of the city. The sky reads orange for nearly an hour. The same week, Loi Krathong floats small banana-leaf rafts down the Ping, each with a candle, a coin, and a thread of incense.
The cool season runs from November through February, with daytime highs near 28°C and dry air off the mountains. The Sunday Walking Street opens each week along Ratchadamnoen Road inside the old city, from late afternoon until about ten at night. Doi Suthep is reached by a 15-kilometre road from the western edge of the city, with 309 naga-railed steps from the car park to the temple terrace. Entry to most wats is free; the Doi Suthep terrace asks a small donation.