Wender·Vista
Ball's Pyramid
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileAustralia
twenty kilometres southeast of Lord Howe Island, in the Tasman Sea

Ball's Pyramid

— — a spire of basalt the ocean forgot to wear down.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“The tallest sea stack in the world, rising 562 metres straight out of the Tasman Sea off the southern tip of Lord Howe Island. Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball sighted it in 1788 on the way to Norfolk Island. No one lives there; almost no one lands. On a single melaleuca bush halfway up the south face, the Lord Howe Island stick insect was found alive in 2001, after eighty years presumed extinct.

from the studio
Ball's Pyramid
— bring it home

Ball's Pyramid, 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.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

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.

— about Ball's Pyramid

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Ball's Pyramid is the eroded remnant of a shield volcano that last erupted about 6.4 million years ago, rising 562 metres above the Tasman Sea roughly twenty kilometres southeast of Lord Howe Island. It is 1,100 metres long but only 300 metres wide, a knife-edge of basalt with almost vertical faces on both sides. Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball of HMS Supply sighted and named it in 1788 while running supplies between Sydney and the new penal outpost on Norfolk Island. The stack lies within the Lord Howe Island Group, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 for its volcanic geology and endemic life.

— the silence

Climbing has been prohibited since 1982 under New South Wales national park regulations, with rare scientific exceptions. The first confirmed summit was a 1965 team from the Sydney Rock Climbing Club, led by Bryden Allen. The water around the stack is open ocean three thousand metres deep, and the prevailing southerly swell breaks against the south face for most of the year. There is no anchorage, no jetty, and no fresh water. Divers reach the surrounding pinnacles by charter from Lord Howe Island, twenty-three kilometres northwest, but few boats stay through a full night.

— the visit

Landing on the stack itself requires a permit from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and is granted only for approved scientific work. Most visitors see the pyramid from a boat charter out of Lord Howe Island, which is reached by a two-hour QantasLink flight from Sydney or Brisbane. The dive sites along the volcanic ridge between the island and the stack include some of the southernmost coral reefs in the world. The best months are October through May, when the swell drops and the water clears to thirty metres of visibility.

— informed by Lord Howe Island Tourism
— where
Australia · Lord Howe Island Group, NSW
— within
Lord Howe Marine Park
— elevation
562 m · 1,844 ft
— position
-31.7547° S · 159.2519° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
23 km NW
Lord Howe Island
subtropical island
25 km NW
Mount Gower
highest peak on Lord Howe
900 km NE
Norfolk Island
Australian external territory
N
Ball's Pyramid
Lord Howe Island
Mount Gower
Norfolk Island
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Ball's Pyramid — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

562 metres above sea level, or 1,844 feet. It is the tallest volcanic sea stack in the world. The base sits on a submarine shelf that drops to about three thousand metres of open ocean.

Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball of HMS Supply sighted it on 17 February 1788, on a supply run from Sydney to the new penal settlement at Norfolk Island. Lord Howe Island was found on the same voyage.

No, not without a research permit. Climbing has been prohibited under NSW national park law since 1982. The first ascent was made in 1965 by a Sydney Rock Climbing Club team led by Bryden Allen.

A large flightless insect once thought extinct after rats reached Lord Howe in 1918. A population of about thirty was rediscovered in 2001 on a single melaleuca bush on the south face of Ball's Pyramid.

The basalt is roughly 6.4 million years old, the remnant of a shield volcano that has been worn by the ocean for almost all of that time. The Lord Howe seamount chain itself is older still.

Administratively, yes. Ball's Pyramid sits in the Lord Howe Island Group within New South Wales, twenty kilometres southeast of the main island, and is covered by the same UNESCO World Heritage listing made in 1982.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Lord Howe regulars and Australian east-coast sailors hold the pyramid in particular regard. A Medium or Large with a handwritten studio note travels well to a diver, a sailor, or a naturalist.

The piece reads well against Coastal-modern, Pacific Maximalist, and warm Minimalist rooms. It sits at ease beside teak, sea glass, and unbleached linen, and works as a single anchor over a reading chair.

A single Large fills a standard sofa wall. For a longer console wall, the four-tile Mural opens the swell around the stack; the nine-tile Mural reads as the full view from a boat.

Yes. Order it in Dura Satin or Matte for installations near water or steam. The colour lives in the ceramic surface and does not lift with cleaning or humidity.

A soft microfibre cloth and clean water. No solvents, no abrasive scrubs. The thin glossy finish keeps the colour stable for decades of normal household use.

Yes. Reid Wender is the curator and the eye behind every WenderVista piece. The work is hand-finished in our Knoxville studio and is not licensed from any third party.

— if this one stayed with you

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