Ko Samui
— — the hour the palms keep the heat.
Not only on a wall.
“An island of coconut groves and long curving beaches off the eastern coast of southern Thailand. Chaweng's white sand on the east, Lamai's boulders to the south, the gilded Big Buddha looking out across the strait from Koh Faan. Inland, the Na Muang waterfalls drop through the jungle, and the old coastal road still passes more palms than houses. — from the studio
Ko Samui, 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.
Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand, off the eastern coast of Surat Thani Province, and the second-largest of Thailand's islands by area at about 228 square kilometres. It forms part of the Chumphon Archipelago and is the largest of the islands in the Ang Thong group's neighbourhood. The main town, Nathon, sits on the west coast; Chaweng, on the east, is the longest beach at roughly seven kilometres of sand.
The waters around Samui are shallow and warm, part of the same gulf shelf that holds the limestone karsts of Ang Thong Marine Park, a 42-island archipelago 30 km to the west. Visibility runs best from February through April, before the monsoon turns the gulf opaque. The Na Muang waterfalls inland fall in two stages, the upper at 80 metres, fed by the central ridge of the island. Coral reefs ring the south at Laem Sor and the north at Mae Nam.
Samui has its own airport at the northeast tip, with Bangkok Airways flying in from Suvarnabhumi in 65 minutes. From the mainland, the Raja and Seatran ferries cross from Donsak pier in 90 minutes. The Big Buddha temple, Wat Phra Yai, sits on the small connected islet of Koh Faan and is free to visit; the sandstone Hin Ta and Hin Yai rocks at Lamai are a short walk from the beach road. November brings the gulf's monsoon; January through May is the dry window.