Olowalu Reef Maui Ceramic Art Tile
— the reef every other reef comes from.
Not only on a wall.
“A shallow reef along Maui's southwest shore, about six miles end to end, between Lahaina and Mā'alaea. Some of the coral colonies here are over five hundred years old. Marine biologists call it the mother reef. Its spawning corals release larvae that drift on the Auau Channel current and reseed the reefs of Lāna'i, Moloka'i, and Kaho'olawe. The water is usually clear in the morning, before the trade winds push up. Green sea turtles work the inshore edge. Manta rays come in to a cleaning station off the point. Nothing about the place announces itself from the highway.
Olowalu Reef Maui Ceramic Art Tile, 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.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
The place, in three passes.
Olowalu sits on the southwest coast of Maui, between the towns of Lahaina, about six miles to the north, and Mā'alaea, about seven miles to the south. The reef itself stretches roughly six miles along the shore, fronting the Olowalu Valley and Honoapiilani Highway (State Route 30). It lies in the Auau Channel between Maui and Lāna'i, part of the larger Maui Nui shallow-water reef system. Most of the reef is in less than thirty feet of water, accessible from shore near mile marker 14. The valley a quarter mile inland holds the Pu'u Kilea petroglyphs and the Olowalu Cultural Reserve.
The Olowalu reef is one of the oldest and most productive shallow-water coral reefs in the Hawaiian Islands. Researchers have documented colonies estimated to be over five hundred years old, among the oldest known in the archipelago. The reef is called a 'mother reef' because its spawning corals release larvae that ride the Auau Channel currents and reseed reefs throughout Maui Nui, including Moloka'i, Lāna'i, and Kaho'olawe. Visibility on calm mornings often reaches sixty feet. Common residents include the Hawaiian green sea turtle (honu), reef sharks, eagle rays, and a resident group of manta rays that visit cleaning stations near the point.
The reef is reached from the shoulder of Honoapiilani Highway near mile marker 14, about a fifteen-minute drive south of Lahaina. There is no parking lot, no lifeguard, and no admission fee. Conditions are typically best in the early morning, before the afternoon trade winds raise chop on the channel. Hawai'i Act 104, in effect since January 2021, bans the sale of sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate; bring mineral-based sunscreen with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. The Olowalu Cultural Reserve, with its petroglyphs at Pu'u Kilea, sits a quarter mile inland and is open to respectful visitors.