Wailua Falls Kauai Ceramic Art Tile
— the rainbow that lives in the falling mist.
Not only on a wall.
“The waterfall at the end of Maalo Road, four miles inland from Lihue on the east side of Kauai. Two ribbons of water drop into the same pool, often with a rainbow held in the mist below them. The Wailua River that gathers below is the river of Kauai's ali'i, the chiefly line whose temples still stand along its lower banks. The road ends at a guardrail and a viewpoint where everybody arrives quietly. Some mornings the light catches the spray and the rainbow doubles.
Wailua Falls Kauai 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.
Wailua Falls sits at the end of Maalo Road, also signed as Hawaii Route 583, about four miles inland from Lihue on the east side of Kauai. The twin falls drop roughly 80 feet into a basin on the Wailua River, the sacred river of the island's ali'i. The viewing area is roadside, with a guardrail at the cliff edge and a small turnout that fits a dozen cars. The lower Wailua was for centuries the seat of Kauai's chiefly line; seven heiau (Hawaiian temples) line its lower miles, including Hikinaakala at the river mouth where the chiefs greeted the sunrise. The falls became widely recognised after appearing in the opening title sequence of the ABC series Fantasy Island, which ran from 1977 to 1984.
The Wailua River carries rainfall from Mount Waialeale, one of the rainiest spots on earth at roughly 450 inches a year, down through a basalt valley to the lip of the falls. The two streams diverge around a small outcrop just above the edge and re-meet in the pool below; in higher water they thicken into a single curtain. A rainbow regularly forms in the mist on sunny mornings as low light enters the spray at the right angle. Below the falls the river continues about four miles east to Wailua Bay, the line of approach Polynesian voyagers are believed to have used when they first settled the island.
The viewpoint is reached by driving Maalo Road (Hawaii 583) from its junction with Kuhio Highway just north of Lihue, about four miles to the end of the pavement. The turnout fits roughly a dozen cars; mornings are quieter and the rainbow is most reliable when the sun is still low in the east. The trail down to the pool was closed by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources after a series of serious injuries on the unmaintained switchbacks, and crossing the railing remains illegal. The published view is from the cliff edge, open every day with no fee.