Wender·Vista
Asmara
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileEritrea
on the edge of the Eritrean highlands

Asmara

— — a 1930s city stranded at altitude.

— 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

“Asmara sits on the Eritrean plateau at a little over 2,300 metres, where Italian architects in the 1930s built a city of Futurist service stations, Art Deco cinemas, and pastel boulevards lined with jacaranda. The Fiat Tagliero, with thirty-metre cantilevered concrete wings, still holds its pose above an empty forecourt. UNESCO inscribed the centre in 2017. The air is dry, thin, and clear most of the year.

from the studio
Asmara
— bring it home

Asmara, 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 Asmara

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

Asmara is the capital of Eritrea, on the southern edge of the Hamasien plateau at roughly 2,325 metres above sea level. Around 960,000 people live in the city, which sits about 65 kilometres inland from the Red Sea port of Massawa. The climate is high-altitude semi-arid: warm dry afternoons, cool nights, a single rainy season from June through September. Italian forces took the town in 1889 and made it the capital of their Eritrean colony; Italian influence persists in the language, the espresso bars, and the cement.

— the stone

Between 1935 and 1941, Italian architects under Mussolini's colonial regime rebuilt Asmara as a modernist showcase, mixing Rationalist, Futurist, and Art Deco forms across roughly 400 surviving buildings. The Fiat Tagliero service station, designed by Giuseppe Pettazzi in 1938, holds two thirty-metre concrete wings cantilevered with no central support. The Cinema Impero of 1937, the Africa Pension, and the Catholic Cathedral on Harnet Avenue stand within a few minutes' walk. UNESCO inscribed the historic centre in 2017 as A Modernist City of Africa.

— the air

The plateau air at 2,325 metres is thin enough that visitors arriving from sea level notice the climb for a day or two. Daytime temperatures in the dry months hold around 20 to 25 degrees Celsius, dropping into the single digits at night. June through September brings the kremti rains in short evening bursts. The dry season from October through May is the long open window, when the jacaranda flower along Harnet Avenue and the bougainvillea bank against the pastel walls.

— where
Eritrea · Asmara, Maekel Region
— elevation
2,325 m · 7,628 ft
— position
15.3229° N · 38.9251° 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.
2 km C
Fiat Tagliero Building
Futurist landmark
1 km C
Cinema Impero
Art Deco cinema
115 km E
Massawa
Red Sea port
90 km NW
Keren
highland town
N
Asmara
Fiat Tagliero Building
Cinema Impero
Massawa
Keren
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Asmara is the capital of Eritrea, on the southern edge of the Hamasien plateau in the Horn of Africa, about 65 kilometres inland from the Red Sea port of Massawa. It sits at roughly 2,325 metres above sea level.

UNESCO inscribed Asmara in 2017 as A Modernist City of Africa for its concentration of Italian-built Rationalist, Futurist, and Art Deco architecture from the 1930s. Around 400 buildings from that period survive in the historic core.

The Fiat Tagliero is a 1938 Futurist service station designed by Giuseppe Pettazzi, with two thirty-metre concrete wings cantilevered out from a central tower with no supporting columns. It is the most photographed building in Asmara.

Tigrinya is the everyday language of Asmara, with Arabic also widely used. Italian is spoken by older residents and lingers in the cafes, and English is the medium of instruction in secondary school.

October through May is the dry season, with warm days near 22 degrees Celsius and cool nights. The kremti rains fall from June through September in short evening bursts, often leaving the mornings clear.

Asmara sits at about 2,325 metres above sea level, making it one of the highest capital cities in Africa. Visitors arriving from the coast climb roughly that full distance in the 115-kilometre drive from Massawa.

— about the piece in your home

We have sent the Asmara tile to customers with family in Eritrea and across the diaspora in Italy, Germany, and the United States. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well.

The pale-ochre, jacaranda-violet, and concrete palette reads well against mid-century-modern interiors, Italian Deco rooms, and quieter African-modern spaces. It also lands on a plain cream wall above a low credenza.

The tile fits the Deco-revival and tropical-modernist categories that have grown over recent design seasons. It sits well alongside chrome lighting, terrazzo, and the muted pastels of 1930s Italian architecture.

A single Large is the usual answer above a sofa or long console. A four-tile Mural lets the Tagliero wings spread; a nine-tile Mural carries a great-room wall or a stairwell landing.

Yes. Choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish for a backsplash, a shower wall, or a humid bath. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and does not lift with steam.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water are enough. Skip abrasive pads and bleach-based sprays, which dull the finish over time. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

Yes. Every WenderVista place is painted in our studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is no licensing, no stock art. Reid Wender curates the atlas and chooses every place that enters it.

— 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.