Wender·Vista
Phnom Penh
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileCambodia
at the confluence of the Mekong, Tonlé Sap, and Bassac rivers

Phnom Penh

— a city built where the rivers meet.

— 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 Cambodian capital, set at the confluence of the Mekong, Tonlé Sap, and Bassac, the four-armed crossing the Khmer call Chaktomuk. Wat Phnom rises on the small hill that gave the city its name; the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda hold the riverfront south of it. French colonial shophouses line the streets behind. The Tonlé Sap reverses its flow each year in November.

from the studio
Phnom Penh
— bring it home

Phnom Penh, 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 Phnom Penh

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

Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia, set at the confluence of the Mekong, Tonlé Sap, and Bassac rivers, a four-armed crossing known in Khmer as Chaktomuk, 'four faces.' The city covers about 679 square kilometres on the west bank, with a metropolitan population of roughly 2.3 million. It was founded in the late fourteenth century around Wat Phnom, the temple-topped hill that gave the city its name. Phnom Penh became the royal capital permanently in 1865, replacing the older capital at Oudong forty kilometres to the north.

— informed by Wikipedia, Tourism Cambodia
— the water

The Mekong flows past Phnom Penh after a 4,000-kilometre journey from the Tibetan Plateau, joined here by the Tonlé Sap from the great lake to the northwest and split immediately into the Bassac. The Tonlé Sap river reverses its flow each year, running upstream into the lake during the southwest monsoon between May and October, and back downstream into the Mekong from November onward. The reversal is marked by the Bon Om Touk water festival, drawing crowds along the riverfront for three days each November when the current turns.

— informed by Mekong River Commission
— the visit

The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda open daily from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., with a modest entrance fee for non-residents; shoulders and knees must be covered. The National Museum, next door in its terracotta-red pavilion, opens 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, in the former S-21 prison, opens through the afternoon and is reached by tuk-tuk from the riverfront in about fifteen minutes. The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek lie seventeen kilometres south of the city.

— informed by Royal Palace of Cambodia
— where
Cambodia · Phnom Penh Capital
— position
11.5564° N · 104.9282° 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.
0.2 km E
Royal Palace
royal complex
0.3 km E
Silver Pagoda
royal temple
0.3 km N
National Museum of Cambodia
art museum
1.5 km N
Wat Phnom
hilltop temple
2 km SW
Tuol Sleng (S-21)
memorial museum
17 km S
Choeung Ek
memorial site
N
Phnom Penh
Royal Palace
Silver Pagoda
National Museum of Cambodia
Wat Phnom
Tuol Sleng (S-21)
Choeung Ek
— common questions

What people ask.

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

The name means 'Penh's hill,' after Lady Penh, who, according to local tradition, founded a shrine on the small hill (phnom) in the late fourteenth century after recovering Buddha statues from a tree in the river.

Chaktomuk, meaning 'four faces' in Khmer, is the name for the river confluence in front of the Royal Palace, where the Mekong, Tonlé Sap, and Bassac meet and divide into four broad channels.

Phnom Penh has served as the capital since 1865, when King Norodom moved the court here permanently from Oudong, forty kilometres to the north. An earlier capital period ran briefly in the fifteenth century.

During the southwest monsoon from May to October, the Mekong rises so high that it forces the Tonlé Sap river to run backward into the great lake. The flow reverses again each November as the Mekong falls.

The Silver Pagoda, inside the Royal Palace complex, is the temple of the Emerald Buddha. Its floor is paved with more than five thousand silver tiles, each weighing about a kilogram, laid between 1892 and 1902.

— about the piece in your home

The Royal Palace and river confluence are central to how residents picture Phnom Penh. A Medium or Large carries well; a Coaster or Keepsake works as a smaller gesture of connection to the city.

The warm ochre and river-green palette pairs with Southeast Asian modern, tropical maximalist, and warm minimalist interiors. It also reads in colonial-influenced rooms where the palace gold picks up surrounding teak.

Southeast Asian subjects have grown in collected interiors over the past several years, alongside the broader biophilic and tropical-modern movements. The piece reads as grounded and considered rather than touristic.

A single Large or a four-tile Mural anchors a standard sofa. A Medium reads above a console. For a wide entry or stairwell, the nine-tile Mural carries the scale.

Yes, with the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and built for humid rooms. The Glossy finish stays in dry interiors as framed art.

A soft microfibre cloth with water. The colour rests inside the ceramic beneath a thin glossy finish, so household cleaners and abrasives are unnecessary and should be avoided.

Yes. Every WenderVista tile is made in-house at the studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. The visual language is the studio's own and is not licensed from outside artists.

— if this one stayed with you

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