Wender·Vista
Brussels
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileBelgium
in central Belgium, where French and Dutch meet at the same café table

Brussels

— — gilded guildhalls under a low grey sky.

— 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

“A square the guilds built three times, the last time after the French cannons of 1695. The gold on the gables catches even when the sky is flat, which in Brussels is often. A few streets away a small bronze boy has been doing the same thing since the seventeenth century. Frites, waffles, a hundred breweries, and the only city in Europe whose street corners are decorated with comic strips. from the studio

from the studio
Brussels
— bring it home

Brussels, 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 Brussels

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

Brussels sits in the centre of Belgium on the small Senne river, which has run mostly underground since the 1870s. The city is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union, with both French and Dutch as official languages of the Brussels-Capital Region. Its centre holds the Grand-Place, a guild-house square inscribed by UNESCO in 1998 and rebuilt after a French bombardment in 1695. The Atomium, built for the 1958 World's Fair, rises 102 metres above the Heysel plateau to the north.

— the stone

The Grand-Place is closed on three sides by Baroque guildhalls completed between 1696 and 1700, after the French bombardment under Marshal de Villeroy reduced the previous square to rubble in three days. The Hôtel de Ville, on the south side, survived with its 96-metre Gothic tower from 1455. Across the square, the Maison du Roi was rebuilt in neo-Gothic in the nineteenth century and now holds the Museum of the City of Brussels. The cobbled space measures roughly 68 by 110 metres.

— the visit

The Grand-Place is open at all hours and free to walk through; the Town Hall interior runs guided tours on selected days. Every two years in mid-August, the square is covered with a flower carpet of about 500,000 begonias arranged in a single pattern across roughly 1,800 square metres. Manneken Pis stands five minutes south on the corner of Rue de l'Étuve and Rue du Chêne; he is dressed in one of more than a thousand costumes held by the Garderobe museum on Rue du Lombard.

— where
Belgium · Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region
— elevation
13 m · 43 ft
— position
50.8503° N · 4.3517° 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.
at the lake
Grand-Place
guild square
0.3 km S
Manneken Pis
bronze fountain
6 km N
Atomium
1958 monument
1 km E
Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula
Gothic cathedral
N
Brussels
Grand-Place
Manneken Pis
Atomium
Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Brussels — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

French troops under Marshal de Villeroy bombarded Brussels for three days in August 1695, leaving most of the square in rubble. The guilds rebuilt their houses between 1696 and 1700, which is why the Baroque facades read as a single ensemble.

The Atomium is a 102-metre steel monument built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, shaped as a unit cell of iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Five of its nine spheres are open to visitors today.

Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual French and Dutch. French is the daily majority language; Dutch is used in administration, public signs, and across the surrounding Flemish region. English is widely understood.

The current bronze figure was cast in 1619 by Hieronimus Duquesnoy the Elder, replacing an earlier stone version that stood from at least the fifteenth century. The original is held by the Museum of the City of Brussels; a copy stands on the corner.

The Brussels Flower Carpet is laid in mid-August on even-numbered years. About 500,000 begonias are arranged in a single design across roughly 1,800 square metres of the Grand-Place, viewable for four days.

— about the piece in your home

It has carried well for customers giving to friends who studied or worked in the city, or who lived through an EU posting there. The Grand-Place at lamplight is the image most expats keep.

The deep gold and slate-grey palette sits naturally with European traditional, transitional, and library-style rooms. It also reads well against walnut, brass, and dark green walls.

Yes. The gilded Baroque detail under a flat grey sky is exactly the register dark academia builds rooms around. It pairs with leather, brass lamps, and tall bookshelves.

A single Large reads well above a standard console. Above a sofa, a 4-tile Mural holds the wall; for a long sectional, the 9-tile Mural is the right scale.

Yes. Order the Dura Satin or Matte finish for either room. Both are scratch-resistant and handle steam and splash. The Glossy finish is for dry walls.

A microfibre cloth, lightly damp with water, is all the surface needs. The colour lives inside the ceramic, so it will not lift, fade in sunlight, or wear at the edges with normal handling.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

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