Wender·Vista
Ashdod
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileIsrael
on Israel's Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv

Ashdod

— — the harbour the Philistines kept watching.

— 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

“Israel's sixth-largest city sits on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 kilometres south of Tel Aviv. The modern city was laid out in 1956 on the dunes north of an ancient Philistine port; the new harbour, opened in 1965, now handles more cargo than any other in the country. Long swimming beaches run the length of the seafront, and the sand smells of pine where the breakwater catches the wind.

from the studio
Ashdod
— bring it home

Ashdod, 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 Ashdod

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

Ashdod lies in Israel's Southern District on the Mediterranean coast, roughly 40 kilometres south of Tel Aviv and 50 kilometres west of Jerusalem. The modern municipality, founded in 1956, sits on dunes north of the ancient mound of Tel Ashdod, one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis named in the Hebrew Bible. The 2023 population was about 226,000, making it Israel's sixth-largest city. The city is organised on a grid of numbered quarters running east from the seafront, and the central area centres on the Yud-Aleph and Yud-Bet neighbourhoods.

— the water

The Port of Ashdod, opened in 1965, is the largest of Israel's three deepwater ports and handles roughly 60 percent of the country's container traffic. Behind the breakwater, six kilometres of public beach run from the marina north to Lido; the most photographed stretch is Mei Ami, where pine-shaded promenades meet the sand. The sea here is warm from June through October, with summer water temperatures around 27°C. South of the city, the Lachish River meets the Mediterranean inside a small coastal nature reserve.

— informed by Israel Ports Company
— the visit

Ashdod is 35 minutes from Tel Aviv on the coastal rail line and roughly an hour by car from Ben Gurion Airport. The Mediterranean climate brings hot dry summers and mild rainy winters; the swimming season runs May through October. The Corinne Mamane Museum of Philistine Culture in the old city tells the Bronze and Iron Age story of the site. Friday afternoons quiet the central districts ahead of Shabbat, when most shops close from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.

— informed by Israel Railways
— where
Israel · Southern District
— position
31.8014° N · 34.6435° 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.
6 km SE
Tel Ashdod
archaeological mound
20 km S
Ashkelon
coastal city
40 km N
Tel Aviv
city
50 km E
Jerusalem
city
N
Ashdod
Tel Ashdod
Ashkelon
Tel Aviv
Jerusalem
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Ashdod lies on Israel's Mediterranean coast in the Southern District, about 40 kilometres south of Tel Aviv and 50 kilometres west of Jerusalem. It is the country's sixth-largest city.

The modern municipality was founded in 1956, but the ancient mound of Tel Ashdod was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age and figures in the Hebrew Bible as one of the five Philistine cities.

The Port of Ashdod handles around 60 percent of Israel's seaborne container trade, making it the largest of the country's three commercial ports. It opened in 1965 and serves Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and the southern district.

The coastal railway connects Ashdod to Tel Aviv in about 35 minutes and to Ben Gurion Airport in under an hour. Highway 4 and Highway 41 carry road traffic from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

April through June and September through October offer warm sea and lighter crowds. The Mediterranean swimming season opens around mid-May and closes in late October, with water temperatures peaking near 27°C in August.

Hebrew is the day-to-day language. Russian is widely spoken because of the immigration wave from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, and French and English are common in tourism and commerce.

— about the piece in your home

It has worked for olim and for families who keep summer apartments along the seafront. The piece holds the breakwater light and the long Mediterranean horizon. A Small or Medium ships cleanly through international post.

The blues and warm sands of the artwork sit well in Coastal-modern, Mediterranean, and Mid-century interiors. The stained-glass lines also carry into Jewel-tone Maximalist rooms where the wall is meant to carry colour.

A single Large covers a console; a 4-tile or 9-tile Mural sits over a sofa. The Medium works in a hallway or alcove, and the Coaster Set scales the seafront palette down to a side table.

Yes. Order it in Dura Satin or Matte for showers, splash zones, and any vertical surface that meets water. The Glossy finish is meant for framed wall art and dry display rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and water handle daily dust and sea-salt haze. For stuck residue on a Dura Satin or Matte tile, a drop of mild dish soap is fine; avoid abrasive pads and citrus solvents.

Yes. Reid Wender curates and paints every piece in the WenderVista atlas from the Knoxville studio; nothing is licensed in or sold to outside catalogues, and each tile is hand-finished in-house.

— if this one stayed with you

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