Wender·Vista
Tomakomai
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileJapan
on the Pacific coast of southern Hokkaido, an hour south of Sapporo

Tomakomai

— — a working harbour the fog keeps half to itself.

— 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

“A port city on the cold Pacific edge of Hokkaido, between the paper mills and Lake Shikotsu. The harbour runs all year, the gulls work the breakwater, and the steam from the mills drifts low across the water on still mornings. North of town the caldera lake holds its own weather. The ice hockey team plays through the long winter. from the studio

from the studio
Tomakomai
— bring it home

Tomakomai, 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 Tomakomai

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

Tomakomai sits on the Pacific coast of southern Hokkaido, roughly 70 kilometres south of Sapporo and adjacent to the volcanic Shikotsu-Toya National Park. The city of about 165,000 grew around the Oji Paper mill founded in 1910, and Tomakomai Port is the largest commercial port in Hokkaido by tonnage. New Chitose Airport, the island's main gateway, is about 20 minutes north by road. The land between the mills and the caldera lake is flat coastal forest crossed by the JR Muroran Main Line.

— the water

Lake Shikotsu, about 25 kilometres north of the city, is the second-deepest lake in Japan at 360 metres and the northernmost lake in the country that does not freeze over in winter. The caldera was formed roughly 40,000 years ago and is rimmed by the cones of Eniwa and Tarumae. Its clarity has long ranked among the highest of any Japanese lake, and the water draining south through the Bibi and Yufutsu plains carries that cold to the Tomakomai coast.

— informed by Wikipedia: Lake Shikotsu
— the season

Winter in Tomakomai is long but milder and drier than the Sea of Japan side of Hokkaido, with average January highs near freezing and the harbour staying open year-round. The city is a hockey town: the Oji Eagles, founded in 1925, play in the Asia League and the rink fills through the dark months. Summer fog rolls in off the Pacific most mornings before the sun burns it off the breakwater. The Tomakomai Port Festival lights the waterfront for three nights in early August.

— informed by Wikipedia: Oji Eagles
— where
Japan · Tomakomai, Hokkaido
— position
42.6342° N · 141.6055° 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.
25 km N
Lake Shikotsu
caldera lake
20 km N
New Chitose Airport
airport
70 km N
Sapporo
city
30 km N
Mount Tarumae
active volcano
N
Tomakomai
Lake Shikotsu
New Chitose Airport
Sapporo
Mount Tarumae
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Tomakomai is on the Pacific coast of southern Hokkaido, about 70 kilometres south of Sapporo and 20 minutes by road from New Chitose Airport, Hokkaido's main international gateway.

It is Hokkaido's largest commercial port by tonnage, a century-old paper-mill town built around Oji Paper, and one of Japan's most established ice hockey cities, home of the Oji Eagles.

About 165,000 people, making it one of the larger cities on Hokkaido after Sapporo, Asahikawa, and Hakodate, and the population centre of the Iburi sub-prefecture.

Lake Shikotsu, a 360-metre-deep caldera lake about 25 kilometres north, the second-deepest lake in Japan and the northernmost that does not freeze in winter.

Three nights in early August, when the waterfront is lit and the harbour hosts fireworks, food stalls, and a parade. It is the city's largest annual public event.

Less than much of Hokkaido. The Pacific side is drier than the Sea of Japan coast, so winters are cold but the snow accumulates more slowly and the port stays open year-round.

— about the piece in your home

It often is. Tomakomai is a working port town that residents and former residents recognise immediately. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries that recognition well.

Coastal-modern interiors, Japandi rooms with warm wood and pale linen, and quiet maximalist studies where one cool blue tile anchors a wall of books or framed prints.

Yes. The cool harbour palette and the restraint in the composition sit well with the Japandi vocabulary of natural wood, off-white plaster, and one held colour per room.

A single Large reads cleanly above a console. Above a standard three-seat sofa, a 4-tile Mural holds the wall; for a wide sectional, a 9-tile Mural is the proportional choice.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and made for vertical installation in wet rooms, backsplashes, and shower walls.

A soft microfibre cloth with plain water. The colour is infused into the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish, so it does not lift, fade, or scratch with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is made in our Knoxville studio under Reid Wender's eye. We do not license the artwork and we do not sell it outside our own shops.

— 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.