Wender·Vista
Batam
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIndonesia
in the Riau Islands, a short ferry south of Singapore

Batam

— — the island that sees Singapore across the water.

— 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 Indonesian island of about 1.2 million people, just twenty kilometres across the strait from Singapore. The skyline of the city-state sits on Batam's northern horizon, close enough to read at night. Inland the island holds palm and rubber, mangrove edges, and the Barelang chain — six bridges stepping south through small fishing islands toward Galang, where Vietnamese boat people once waited out the seventies. *from the studio*

from the studio
Batam
— bring it home

Batam, 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 Batam

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

Batam is an Indonesian island in the Riau archipelago, about 20 kilometres south of Singapore across the Singapore Strait. The municipal population is roughly 1.2 million, concentrated in the north of the island around the city of Batam Centre and the older port at Nagoya. The island is part of a free trade zone established in the 1970s and developed in partnership with Singapore, which is why much of its economy runs on shipyards, electronics assembly, and weekend tourism from across the strait.

— informed by Wikipedia — Batam
— the water

Five high-speed ferry routes link Batam to Singapore's HarbourFront and Tanah Merah terminals, with the crossing taking under an hour. The Singapore Strait outside Batam's north coast is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world — at any hour, tankers and container ships are visible queued for the Malacca approach. To the south, the Barelang chain of six bridges, opened in 1998, steps across small islands toward Galang, the largest of which once held a UN refugee camp for Vietnamese boat people from 1979 to 1996.

— the air

Batam sits one degree north of the equator, so the climate runs warm and humid all year, with average daily highs near 31 degrees Celsius and only a small swing between seasons. The wetter months are November through February, when the northeast monsoon brings short heavy afternoon storms; June through August is drier and clearer. Sea breeze off the strait carries the smell of salt and engine smoke through the harbour districts, and the air on the bridges south toward Galang is markedly cleaner.

— where
Indonesia · Batam, Riau Islands
— position
1.0456° N · 104.0305° 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.
20 km N
Singapore
city-state
25 km E
Bintan Island
island
50 km S
Galang Island
island
N
Batam
Singapore
Bintan Island
Galang Island
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Batam is an Indonesian island in the Riau Islands province, about 20 kilometres south of Singapore across the Singapore Strait. It is reached by ferry from Singapore in under an hour.

Batam has a population of roughly 1.2 million people across an area of about 715 square kilometres. The city is the largest in the Riau Islands and the economic centre of the province.

Batam was designated a free trade zone in the 1970s under a plan to develop it as an industrial counterpart to Singapore. Shipyards, electronics, and tourism remain the main pillars of the local economy.

The Barelang Bridge is a chain of six bridges opened in 1998 that links Batam to the smaller islands of Rempang and Galang to its south. The first bridge has become the most recognised landmark on the island.

From 1979 to 1996 the United Nations operated a refugee camp on Galang Island, south of Batam, that processed more than 250,000 Vietnamese boat people. Parts of the camp are preserved as a memorial site today.

Ferries run multiple times an hour from HarbourFront and Tanah Merah terminals in Singapore to Batam Centre, Sekupang, Nongsa, and Harbour Bay terminals. The crossing takes roughly 45 minutes to one hour.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. It has carried well for customers with family, work, or shipyard ties to the island, and for Singaporeans who weekend across the strait. A Coaster Set or Small with a handwritten note is the most-asked-for format.

The piece sits well in tropical-modern, coastal-modern, and warm-minimal rooms. The blue-and-green palette reads cool and oceanic, so it holds against rattan, teak, and warm-white walls without competing.

Yes. Tropical-modern and contemporary Southeast-Asian interiors are a steady design direction, and the piece nods to that lineage through palette and place rather than through obvious motif.

Above a standard sofa or long console, a single Large reads as the centrepiece. For a wider wall, a 4-tile Mural carries the room, and a 9-tile Mural is the full statement piece.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and stand up to steam and splash, so the tile can live above a basin, a backsplash, or inside a shower wall.

A soft microfibre cloth, dry or barely damp with water, is all that is needed. No sprays, no abrasives. The colour lives in the ceramic surface itself, so it will not lift with cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to our studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is no licensing and no third-party artwork — the eye is Reid's, the work is finished in-house.

— if this one stayed with you

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Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.