Wender·Vista
Surrey
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileCanada
across the Fraser River from Vancouver

Surrey

— — a city six small towns wide.

— 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

“Six town centres stitched together south of the Fraser, the largest by area of Greater Vancouver's cities and the one growing fastest. Crescent Beach at low tide. The cedar paths through Bear Creek Park. The Vaisakhi parade through Newton each April, one of the biggest outside Punjab. A city built more by arrival than by founding.

from the studio
Surrey
— bring it home

Surrey, 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 Surrey

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

Surrey sits south of the Fraser River, immediately east of Delta and across the river from New Westminster, Burnaby, and Vancouver. Incorporated in 1879 and now home to roughly 568,000 residents per the 2021 census, it is the second-most populous city in British Columbia and the largest by land area inside Metro Vancouver. Six historic town centres (Whalley, Guildford, Fleetwood, Newton, Cloverdale, and South Surrey) function as semi-independent districts, knit together by the SkyTrain Expo Line and the King George corridor.

— the year

Vaisakhi has been celebrated in Surrey for more than four decades, and the Newton parade, organised by Gurdwara Dasmesh Darbar, draws an estimated 500,000 people each April. It is regularly described as the largest Vaisakhi gathering outside India. The route runs along 124 Street and 75 Avenue, lined with langar tables open to anyone who walks past. Beyond Vaisakhi, the Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair has run since 1888, and the Surrey Fusion Festival in Holland Park gathers more than fifty cultural pavilions over a single weekend in July.

— the visit

Surrey reaches from the Fraser River south to Semiahmoo Bay, a roughly 316-square-kilometre footprint that the SkyTrain Expo Line crosses in about fifteen minutes between Scott Road and King George stations. Crescent Beach in South Surrey is the quietest stretch of shore in Metro Vancouver, with a two-kilometre boardwalk above the mudflats. Bear Creek Park, near Whalley, holds eighty-eight hectares of cedar and Douglas fir trails plus a small-gauge railway open in summer. Historic Stewart Farm in Elgin Heritage Park, built in 1894, anchors the city's preserved farm landscape along the Nicomekl River.

— where
Canada · Metro Vancouver, British Columbia
— position
49.1913° N · 122.8490° 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.
8 km NW
New Westminster
city
10 km W
Delta
city
18 km S
White Rock
city
14 km E
Langley
city
16 km NW
Burnaby
city
N
Surrey
New Westminster
Delta
White Rock
Langley
Burnaby
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Surrey is in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, immediately south of the Fraser River and east of Delta. It borders the United States at the Peace Arch crossing in South Surrey.

Surrey covers about 316 square kilometres and had a population of 568,322 in the 2021 census, making it the second-largest city in British Columbia after Vancouver and the fastest-growing.

The six town centres are City Centre (Whalley), Guildford, Fleetwood, Newton, Cloverdale, and South Surrey. Each functions as a semi-independent district with its own commercial core and character.

No. Surrey is a separate city within Metro Vancouver, the federation of 21 municipalities around Burrard Inlet and the Fraser delta. Vancouver lies across the Fraser River to the northwest.

Surrey was incorporated as a municipality in 1879 and renamed the City of Surrey in 1993. Early settlement was agricultural: dairy, hops, and berry farms along the Nicomekl and Serpentine rivers.

Surrey is known for its scale and pace of growth, its large South Asian community centred in Newton, the Vaisakhi parade, Crescent Beach, and the campus of Simon Fraser University at City Centre.

— about the piece in your home

Many of our buyers send a tile to family who moved away from Greater Vancouver. The Small or a Coaster Set with a handwritten note from the studio carries the place well.

The Voynich stained-glass palette in deep greens and Fraser blues sits well in Pacific-Northwest modern, mountain-modern, and jewel-tone maximalist rooms. The thin glossy finish reads as art, not signage.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large reads from across the room, a four-tile Mural fills a feature wall, and a nine-tile Mural anchors a great-room. A Medium suits a console.

Yes. For wet or steamy rooms, choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish (both are scratch-resistant and hold up to splashes). The Glossy finish is best reserved for dry display.

A soft microfibre cloth with plain water is all the surface needs. Avoid abrasive pads and bleach-based cleaners. The colour is infused into the ceramic surface, so it will not fade with normal cleaning.

Yes. Reid Wender paints the WenderVista atlas himself from the studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is no licensing and no third-party stock; every tile in the line comes from a single eye.

— 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.