Wender·Vista
George Town
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileMalaysia
on Penang Island, off Malaysia's northwest coast

George Town

— — a port town the centuries kept layering.

— 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

“The old port on the northeast corner of Penang Island, founded by Francis Light in 1786. Shophouses in the colours of dried mangoes and ox-blood, Chinese clan houses with carved roof ridges, mosques and Hindu temples a block apart. UNESCO World Heritage since 2008. The hawker stalls of Lebuh Chulia open at dusk and the kopitiams open at five.

from the studio
George Town
— bring it home

George Town, 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 George Town

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

George Town sits on the northeast corner of Penang Island, off the northwest coast of peninsular Malaysia, separated from the mainland by a strait of about three kilometres. The British East India Company captain Francis Light established the settlement in 1786 as a free port. The historic core covers roughly 260 hectares and was inscribed jointly with Melaka on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2008 as the Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca. The metropolitan population is about 800,000.

— the stone

The streetscape is shophouses, two and three storeys, built between the 1790s and the 1930s in a mix of Hokkien Chinese, Straits Eclectic, and Anglo-Indian styles. The Khoo Kongsi clan house on Lebuh Cannon dates in its current form from 1906. The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, the Blue Mansion on Leith Street, was completed in the 1880s and restored in the 1990s. Lebuh Acheh holds an 1808 mosque a block from the Sri Mahamariamman Hindu temple of 1833.

— the air

The street art programme commissioned from Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic in 2012 sent a second wave of visitors into the lanes off Armenian Street. Hawker culture, by most accounts, is the deeper draw: char kway teow at Lorong Selamat, assam laksa on Jalan Pasar, white coffee in kopitiams that have not changed their tile floors. The climate is equatorial; temperatures hold between 24 and 32 degrees Celsius. Heaviest rain falls August through November, often as short afternoon storms that clear by evening.

— where
Malaysia · George Town, Penang
— position
5.4145° N · 100.3292° 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.
at the lake
Armenian Street
street-art quarter
at the lake
Khoo Kongsi
clan house
6 km W
Penang Hill
hill station
4 km E
Butterworth
mainland port
N
George Town
Armenian Street
Khoo Kongsi
Penang Hill
Butterworth
— common questions

What people ask.

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

It was inscribed in 2008 with Melaka as the Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca, recognised for an unbroken record of multicultural trading-port urbanism: shophouses, clan houses, mosques, temples, and churches inside a 260-hectare core.

In 1786 by Francis Light of the British East India Company, who took possession of Penang Island and established it as a free port. The settlement was named for King George III.

Bahasa Malaysia is the national language. Penang Hokkien is the historic Chinese vernacular of the town; Mandarin, English, and Tamil are widely used. Many older signs are tri-lingual.

George Town is regarded as one of Southeast Asia's strongest hawker centres. Signatures include char kway teow, assam laksa, hokkien mee, nasi kandar, and white coffee. Stalls run through the day, with the densest activity at dusk.

The wettest months are August through November during the southwest-to-northeast monsoon transition. Rain usually arrives as short evening storms. The drier window runs December through April.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. George Town carries deep meaning for the Penang diaspora and for travellers who have walked Armenian Street at dusk. A Small or Medium glossy in a kitchen or entry holds the colour well.

It sits well in Straits Eclectic and Peranakan interiors, in Tropical-modern rooms with rattan and teak, and in Jewel-tone Maximalist spaces where the ox-blood and indigo find their kin.

A single Large above a console; a four-tile Mural above a standard sofa; a nine-tile Mural for a feature wall in a foyer or stairwell where the shophouse rhythm can run long.

Yes, in Dura Satin or Matte. Both are scratch-resistant and clean with a soft cloth and water. The colour lives in the surface and is not affected by steam or splash.

Yes. Painted in-house by Reid Wender in our stained-glass and alcohol-ink visual language, then hand-finished in Knoxville. Single studio, no licensing.

— if this one stayed with you

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