Old Oraibi
— — a village older than most of the world's cities.
Not only on a wall.
“A Hopi village on a fingertip of Third Mesa, looking out over the high desert. Old Oraibi has been inhabited continuously since at least the year 1100, making it one of the oldest occupied settlements on the continent. The stone houses sit low and close. Photography, recording, and sketching are not allowed. Visitors come quietly, or they don't come at all. — from the studio
Old Oraibi, 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.
Oraibi sits on Third Mesa of the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, at roughly 6,100 feet of elevation, about sixty miles north of Winslow. Tree-ring dating and archaeology place continuous occupation back to at least 1100 CE, which makes it one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in North America. The village is reached from Arizona State Route 264, the road that runs east-west across all three Hopi mesas. Population today is small; in 1900 it was the largest Hopi village, with more than 800 residents before the 1906 split that produced Hotevilla and Bacavi.
Old Oraibi is a living village, not a museum. Photography, video, audio recording, and sketching are prohibited everywhere on the Hopi Reservation, and the prohibition is taken seriously; cameras are confiscated. Ceremonial dances are generally closed to outside visitors. The village can be walked through on the public road and a small number of Hopi-run shops sell carvings and silverwork. The Hopi Cultural Center on Second Mesa is the recommended starting point for visitors, with a museum, restaurant, and motel. Respect for residents and their privacy is the only acceptable posture.
The 1906 split happened on a single September day. Two factions of the village pushed against each other along a line scratched in the rock; the losing side walked west and founded Hotevilla. The line is still visible on the mesa. Oraibi's population fell sharply after, and the village's pace has been quiet ever since. The mesa sits high above the Painted Desert, and the wind moves through the stone houses most of the day. Sound carries a long way. The whole place keeps the texture of a settlement that has chosen its own size.