Wender·Vista
Bharuch
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIndia
on the lower Narmada, in southern Gujarat

Bharuch

— — a river the city has watched for three thousand years.

— 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

“One of the oldest continuously inhabited ports on the Indian Ocean rim. The Narmada widens here on its last run to the Gulf of Khambhat, and the long iron span of the Golden Bridge crosses where merchant fleets once loaded cotton and teak. The old town keeps its back to the water and its name in every Periplus. from the studio

from the studio
Bharuch
— bring it home

Bharuch, 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 Bharuch

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

Bharuch sits on the north bank of the Narmada River about 30 kilometres above its mouth at the Gulf of Khambhat, in southern Gujarat. The Greek Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, written in the first century, names the port Barygaza and counts it among the great markets of the western Indian Ocean. The city anchors Bharuch District, with a population near 170,000 at the 2011 census. The river crossing here is carried by the Golden Bridge, a 1.4-kilometre lattice opened by the British in 1881.

— the water

The Narmada is one of seven rivers held sacred in Hindu tradition, and one of the few major Indian rivers that flows east to west. By the time it reaches Bharuch it has run more than 1,300 kilometres from its source at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh. The estuary is broad and tidal here, with mudflats that draw flamingos in the cool season. Pilgrims still come to the ghats below the old town for parikrama, the months-long walk along the river's banks.

— the stone

The city's higher ground holds the Jama Masjid, a mosque built in 1321 from the columns of an earlier temple, its hypostyle hall carrying the carved trabeated lines of Gujarati stonework into Islamic use. Below it runs the long iron of the Golden Bridge, designed by John Hawkshaw and completed in 1881. Together they read as three layers of trade: Hindu, Sultanate, and British. Each kept the same crossing for the same reason, the river narrows here and the bank holds firm.

— where
India · Bharuch District, Gujarat
— position
21.7051° N · 72.9959° 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.
5 km S
Ankleshwar
industrial town
75 km NE
Vadodara
city
85 km S
Surat
port city
N
Bharuch
Ankleshwar
Vadodara
Surat
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Bharuch is one of the oldest port cities on India's west coast, named Barygaza in the first-century Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. It sits on the Narmada River in Gujarat, about 30 kilometres above the river's mouth.

Opened in 1881, the Golden Bridge carries road and rail traffic across the Narmada at Bharuch. The 1.4-kilometre lattice span was the longest river bridge in British India when it was completed and remains a working crossing today.

Bharuch has been inhabited and traded through for at least 2,000 years. Greek and Roman merchants knew it as Barygaza; classical Indian texts call it Bharukaccha. It predates most other surviving Indian port names on the western coast.

The Narmada, one of seven rivers held sacred in Hindu tradition. It rises at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh and runs 1,312 kilometres west, reaching the Gulf of Khambhat just below Bharuch.

The cool season from November to February, when daytime temperatures sit in the low twenties Celsius and the tidal flats of the Narmada estuary draw flamingos and other migratory waterbirds in numbers.

— about the piece in your home

It has carried well for customers with Gujarati family ties. The Narmada and the Golden Bridge are quiet anchors of local memory, and a Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio reads as a piece of the place.

The river ochres and bridge greens sit well in warm minimalist, Indo-modern, and earth-tone Mediterranean rooms. The palette is muted enough to read as a quiet anchor rather than a feature wall.

Above a standard sofa a single Large reads well; for more presence a 4-tile or 9-tile Mural carries the long horizontal of the bridge across the wall. Above a console, a Medium is usually the right scale.

Yes, in either Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and stand up to humidity, so the tile reads the same on a backsplash or shower wall as it does framed in a hallway.

A microfibre cloth with plain water. The colour lives slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, beneath a thin glossy finish, so there is nothing to lift or scratch off.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to the studio, painted in our stained-glass and alcohol-ink visual language by Reid Wender as curator. The work is not licensed in or out.

— if this one stayed with you

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