Wender·Vista
Chimborazo
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileEcuador
in the Ecuadorian Andes, south of Quito

Chimborazo

— — the closest the planet comes to the sun.

— 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

“An ice-capped volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes, about a hundred miles south of Quito. From the summit, six thousand two hundred and sixty-three metres up, you stand farther from the centre of the earth than from any other point on its surface. Vicuñas graze the páramo below. The mountain has been quiet for fourteen hundred years.

from the studio
Chimborazo
— bring it home

Chimborazo, 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 Chimborazo

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

Chimborazo is a glaciated stratovolcano in the Cordillera Occidental of the Ecuadorian Andes, about one hundred miles south of Quito and twenty miles northwest of Riobamba. Its summit reaches 6,263 metres, making it Ecuador's highest mountain. Because the planet bulges at the equator, the peak sits about 2,072 metres farther from the centre of the Earth than the summit of Everest. The Reserva de Producción de Fauna Chimborazo, designated in 1987, protects fifty-eight thousand hectares of high páramo, glacier, and rock around the mountain.

— the air

At the summit the air holds about half the oxygen of sea level. The mountain's last known eruption was around the year 550, and it is now classified as inactive, though geologists still monitor fumarole activity in the upper craters. Edward Whymper, the British alpinist who had made the first ascent of the Matterhorn, climbed Chimborazo in January 1880 with the Italian guides Jean-Antoine and Louis Carrel. Modern acclimatisation runs four to six days; most climbers stage out of the Whymper Refuge at about 5,000 metres.

— the silence

The páramo around Chimborazo's lower slopes is one of South America's restored grasslands. Vicuñas, the smallest of the camelids, were reintroduced from Chile and Peru beginning in 1988 after disappearing from Ecuador in the colonial period. The herd around the mountain now numbers more than seven thousand. Above the grass the air thins until cushion plants give way to bare rock, then to ice. The wind off the puna carries no smell other than dry grass and the cold of the glacier.

— where
Ecuador · Chimborazo Province, Ecuador
— within
Reserva de Producción de Fauna Chimborazo
— elevation
6,263 m · 20,549 ft
— position
-1.4694° S · 78.8169° 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.
32 km SE
Riobamba
Andean city
11 km NE
Carihuairazo
sister volcano
4 km SW
Whymper Refuge
climbing hut
48 km N
Ambato
Andean city
160 km N
Quito
capital
N
Chimborazo
Riobamba
Carihuairazo
Whymper Refuge
Ambato
Quito
— common questions

What people ask.

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

In the Cordillera Occidental of the Ecuadorian Andes, about one hundred miles south of Quito and twenty miles northwest of the Andean city of Riobamba in Chimborazo Province.

The summit reaches 6,263 metres, or 20,549 feet, making it the highest mountain in Ecuador. Because of the equatorial bulge, the peak is the farthest point on Earth's surface from the planet's centre.

Currently classified as inactive. The last known eruption was around the year 550, though geologists still monitor fumarole activity in the upper craters as part of routine volcanic surveillance.

Edward Whymper, the British alpinist who had made the first ascent of the Matterhorn, reached the summit in January 1880 with the Italian guides Jean-Antoine and Louis Carrel of Valtournenche.

More than seven thousand vicuñas, reintroduced from Chile and Peru beginning in 1988 after disappearing from Ecuador in the colonial period. Andean foxes, condors, and high-altitude grasses share the same belt.

Through the Reserva de Producción de Fauna Chimborazo, designated in 1987 and managed by Ecuador's Ministerio del Ambiente. The reserve covers fifty-eight thousand hectares of páramo, glacier, and rock around the peak.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for Ecuadorians abroad, climbers who have stood on the summit, and travellers who took the train down from Riobamba. The ice cap and páramo gold read at a glance. A Small or Medium suits a hallway.

The ice-white summit and warm páramo tones suit Mountain-modern, Andean, and quietly Maximalist rooms. The piece holds against pale plaster, warm oak, or a deep terracotta wall.

Yes. The current mountain-modern direction favours specific named peaks over generic alpine prints. A Chimborazo piece carries that shift: the highest mountain in Ecuador, not a stand-in summit.

A single Large sits well above most consoles. Above a standard three-seat sofa, a four-tile Mural carries the wall; a nine-tile Mural anchors a longer wall without crowding the seating below.

Yes. Order the Dura Satin or Matte finish for any room with steam or splash. The colour lives in the ceramic surface and will not fade with cleaning or sunlight over the years.

A soft microfibre cloth with water handles everyday dust. For kitchen splatter, use a damp cloth with a drop of mild dish soap. No abrasive pads, no bleach, no scouring powder.

Yes. Every piece in the WenderVista atlas is painted in the studio's stained-glass and alcohol-ink language and hand-finished in Knoxville. No licensing, no third-party art.

— 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.