Wender·Vista
Quito
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileEcuador
high in the Andes on the slopes of Pichincha

Quito

— — a city the equator nearly runs through.

— 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 Ecuador, on a long ridge nine thousand feet above the sea, the volcano Pichincha rising at its back. Old Quito is one of the largest historic centres in the Americas, its plazas and bell towers laid out by the Spanish over an older Inca city. The light at this altitude is sharp and clean, and the late afternoon turns the white walls the colour of pale honey.

from the studio
Quito
— bring it home

Quito, 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 Quito

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

Quito is the capital of Ecuador, set in a high Andean valley on the eastern slopes of Pichincha volcano. At about 2,850 metres (9,350 feet), it is the second-highest capital city in the world after La Paz. The historic centre was inscribed by UNESCO in 1978 as one of the first World Heritage sites, alongside Kraków. The equator passes 26 kilometres north of the city at the monument called La Mitad del Mundo.

— the air

At nearly three thousand metres, Quito's air is thin and dry; arrivals from sea level are told to take the first day slowly. The reward is the light. Equatorial sun at altitude has no haze in it, and shadows fall hard and sharp on the white walls of the colonial centre. Afternoons often bring a fast mountain shower; mornings begin clear, with the cone of Cotopaxi visible 50 kilometres south.

— the stone

The old town holds about forty churches and several Baroque masterworks built between 1550 and 1750. The Church of La Compañía de Jesús, finished 1765, is gilded in roughly seven tonnes of gold leaf. The Plaza Grande is bordered by the Cathedral, the Carondelet Palace, and the Archbishop's Palace. Quito's school of colonial painting and woodcarving, the Escuela Quiteña, supplied altarpieces across the Andes through the 17th and 18th centuries.

— where
Ecuador · Pichincha Province, Ecuador
— elevation
2,850 m · 9,350 ft
— position
-0.1807° S · 78.4678° 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.
26 km N
Mitad del Mundo
equator monument
50 km S
Cotopaxi National Park
volcano park
95 km N
Otavalo
Andean market town
N
Quito
Mitad del Mundo
Cotopaxi National Park
Otavalo
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Quito is the capital of Ecuador, in a high Andean valley on the slopes of Pichincha volcano. At 2,850 metres it is the second-highest capital in the world, 26 kilometres south of the equator.

Quito's historic centre was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, in the first cohort ever inscribed. The 320-hectare colonial core is the largest and best-preserved in the Americas.

The site was the northern capital of the Inca Empire, taken by Sebastián de Belalcázar in 1534. The Inca general Rumiñahui burned the city before the Spanish arrival, so almost nothing from that era survives above ground.

A monument and small museum complex 26 kilometres north of central Quito, marking the equator line measured by the French Geodesic Mission in 1736. Modern GPS places the true line about 240 metres north of the monument.

June through September are the driest months and the most popular. Quito sits on the equator at altitude, so daytime temperatures stay in the high teens Celsius across all seasons. Rain is heaviest March through May.

— about the piece in your home

It has carried well for customers with family in the Andes. The white walls and red roofs of old Quito under Pichincha are recognised by anyone who grew up there. A Small or Coaster Set sends warmly.

The piece sits well with warm Minimalist, Spanish-Colonial, and earthy Mediterranean rooms. The honey-white walls and terracotta roofs hold against natural linen and dark wood; the deeper jewel tones from Pichincha read well in a Maximalist setting.

Andean-modern has grown steadily. Terracotta, undyed wool, hammered copper, and hand-thrown ceramic are the through-line, and a Quito tile holds the palette without leaning on stock imagery.

A single Large suits a console table. Above a sofa a 4-tile Mural is the usual choice; for a feature wall a 9-tile Mural carries the room. A Triptych works well over a sideboard.

Yes. Choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish for showers, backsplashes, and powder rooms. Both are scratch-resistant; the colour is held inside the surface so steam and water have no effect on it.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is made by our studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is no licensing or third-party stock. The Quito painting belongs to Reid Wender's atlas of places.

— 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.