Wender·Vista
Ouagadougou
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileBurkina Faso
on the central plateau of Burkina Faso, where the Sahel meets the Sudan savannah

Ouagadougou

— — the dry-season morning before the harmattan turns the sky white.

— 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 capital of Burkina Faso, on a red-dust plateau where the Sahel meets the savannah. Every two years FESPACO fills the streets with film posters and visitors from across the continent. The rest of the year the city is bronze workshops, market stalls under tarpaulins, and the long evening light the dust softens.

from the studio
Ouagadougou
— bring it home

Ouagadougou, 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 Ouagadougou

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

Ouagadougou sits on the central plateau of Burkina Faso at roughly 305 metres elevation, in the Sudano-Sahelian belt of West Africa. It is the country's political and cultural capital, home to about 2.5 million people, and the seat of the Mossi paramount ruler whose Moro-Naba palace still holds a short Friday-morning ceremony each week. The Grand Mosque, the Naba Koom rail station, and the bronze-casting quarter of Koulouba mark the older urban core. The Pan-African Film Festival, FESPACO, has been held in the city since 1969 and remains the largest of its kind on the continent.

— the year

The civic year turns on two festivals that move the city. FESPACO, the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, occupies the city for a week every odd year in late February and has run since 1969. SIAO, the International Art and Craft Fair, fills the same showgrounds every even year and pulls bronze workers, weavers, and leather artisans from across West Africa. Between them, the calendar holds the Friday Moro-Naba ceremony at the royal court, a thread of continuity older than the colonial city laid over it.

— the air

The climate is Sudano-Sahelian: a long dry season from October through May, a short wet one from June through September, and the harmattan wind that blows down off the Sahara from late November to February. The harmattan carries fine red dust that hazes the sun and reaches as far as the Gulf of Guinea. Average annual rainfall hovers near 800 millimetres. The hottest weeks fall in March and April, when daytime highs in Ouagadougou regularly cross 40 degrees Celsius and the nights stay warm under a dusted sky.

— where
Burkina Faso · Ouagadougou, Centre
— elevation
305 m · 1,001 ft
— position
12.3700° N · 1.5200° W
— 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.
350 km SW
Bobo-Dioulasso
second city
360 km SW
Loropéni Ruins
UNESCO ruin
510 km E
Niamey
regional capital
N
Ouagadougou
Bobo-Dioulasso
Loropéni Ruins
Niamey
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso, on the country's central plateau in West Africa, roughly 800 kilometres inland from the Atlantic and about 305 metres above sea level.

The Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, held in the city every odd year since 1969. It is the largest African cinema festival on the continent and confers the Étalon de Yennenga prize.

A dry, dust-laden trade wind that blows south from the Sahara across West Africa from roughly late November to February. It hazes the sky over Ouagadougou and softens the dry-season light into a copper tone.

Ouagadougou holds one of West Africa's strongest lost-wax bronze traditions, centred in the Koulouba quarter. Casters work in small open-air workshops and supply the SIAO craft fair, held every even year.

The Moro-Naba is the paramount ruler of the Mossi people, whose royal court has stood in Ouagadougou for several centuries. A short Friday-morning ceremony at the palace continues each week.

French is the official language. Mossi (Mooré) is the most widely spoken first language in the city, with Dyula and Fulfulde also common in markets and outlying quarters.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for customers with West African roots. The piece reads as a small piece of home rather than tourism. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well.

The piece sits well in warm-earth Maximalist rooms, in collected Bohemian interiors, and in spaces leaning African-modern with terracotta, indigo, and brass. The colour holds against a deep clay or whitewashed wall.

Yes. The current African-modern direction favours hand-finished surfaces, earth pigments, and pieces with a clear cultural source. A ceramic tile from a specific city reads stronger than a generic textile or print.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large carries the wall on its own. For a longer console or wider sofa, a 4-tile Mural sits well; a 9-tile Mural anchors a full feature wall.

Yes. Choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish for any room with steam or splash. Both are scratch-resistant and clean with a microfibre cloth and water; the Glossy finish stays in drier rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and plain water. No solvents, no abrasives. The colour lives in the ceramic surface beneath a thin protective layer, so nothing on the cleaning rag reaches the pigment.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original work from a single studio in Knoxville, Tennessee, hand-finished in-house. We do not license imagery in or out; the eye is Reid Wender's.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.