shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileMalaysia

off Malaysia's northwest coast, across the strait from Butterworth

Penang Island

Name: Penang Island — on ceramic tile, by WenderVista
Brand: WenderVista

— — the island where the kitchen never closes.

— 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

— 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 island the size of Singapore, hung off the Malay Peninsula by a pair of long bridges. George Town, its capital, was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008 for streets where Chinese clan houses, Tamil temples, mosques, and shophouse cafes share the same five-foot walkway. The cooking is what travellers come back for: char kway teow at midnight, white coffee at six.

from the studio

— bring it home

Penang Island, 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 Penang Island

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

Penang Island sits in the Strait of Malacca off Malaysia's northwest coast, separated from the mainland by a three-kilometre channel and joined to it by the Penang Bridge of 1985 and the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge of 2014. The island covers roughly 293 square kilometres. Its capital George Town, founded as a British East India Company trading post by Francis Light in 1786, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 alongside Melaka for its surviving multicultural Straits trading streetscape.

— informed by Wikipedia, UNESCO

— the stone

George Town's heritage zone protects roughly 4.5 square kilometres of pre-war shophouses, clan jetties, and religious buildings along Lebuh Pantai and Lebuh Chulia. The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, an 1880s indigo-blue Hakka courtyard house, anchors the merchant quarter. Around it stand the Kapitan Keling Mosque, the Sri Mahamariamman Tamil temple, and Kuan Yin Teng, the Goddess of Mercy temple, within a quarter-mile of one another. The Khoo Kongsi clan house, completed in 1906, is the most ornate of five surviving Hokkien clan complexes.

— informed by Penang Heritage Trust

— the visit

Penang's food culture earned it the centre of Malaysian hawker cooking. The night stalls along Gurney Drive and the day kitchens at Chulia Street serve the canonical Penang dishes: char kway teow, asam laksa, hokkien mee, char siu rice, and the city's white coffee. Most stalls open before dawn or after dusk and close when the day's pot is gone. The Penang Hill funicular, running since 1923, climbs 833 metres above George Town to a cooler ridge with views back across the strait.

— informed by Wikipedia: Penang Hill

— where

Malaysia · George Town, Penang

— position

5.4141° N · 100.3288° 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

George Town heritage core

old town

7 km SW

Kek Lok Si Temple

Buddhist temple

8 km W

Penang Hill

ridge

15 km NW

Batu Ferringhi

beach

8 km S

Penang Bridge

bridge

Penang Island

George Town heritage core

Kek Lok Si Temple

Penang Hill

Batu Ferringhi

Penang Bridge

— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Penang Island — and about bringing the piece home.

— about the place

Two bridges from the mainland: the 13.5-km Penang Bridge from Perai and the 24-km Sultan Abdul Halim bridge from Batu Kawan. A 24-hour ferry runs from Butterworth, and Penang International Airport at Bayan Lepas takes direct flights.

George Town was inscribed in 2008 with Melaka for preserving a multicultural Straits of Malacca trading town in continuous use since the late 18th century. Shophouses, clan jetties, and overlapping quarters carried the listing.

Hawker food and heritage architecture. The island sits at the centre of Malaysian street cooking, and George Town holds one of Southeast Asia's most intact pre-war shophouse districts. The two reputations bring most of the travel.

December through February is the driest stretch. The southwest monsoon brings afternoon rains from May to September. The annual George Town Festival fills the city with art and music every July and August.

Malay is the national language. Hokkien is the heritage language of the Chinese majority in George Town, and English is widely spoken. Tamil, Cantonese, and Mandarin are also common in the older quarters.

Captain Francis Light of the British East India Company landed in July 1786, secured the island from the Sultan of Kedah, and named the settlement after George III. It became the company's first foothold in the Malay world.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for Penangites abroad and for travellers who spent time in George Town. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note arrives as a piece of the island rather than a souvenir of it.

The warm shophouse palette of indigo, ochre, and deep red sits well in Tropical, Eclectic-Asian, and Maximalist rooms. Pair the Large with rattan, dark teak, or terracotta tile.

Yes. The current taste for layered colour and lived-in pattern fits Penang's heritage palette well. A 4-tile Mural reads as a quiet centrepiece in a room with rattan, batik, or Peranakan-tile accents.

A Large fills most consoles. Above a three-seat sofa, the 4-tile Mural lands well; for a long sectional or a hallway, the 9-tile Mural carries the wall.

Yes. The Dura Satin or Matte finish suits vertical installations in bathrooms, kitchens, and showers. The colour stays in the ceramic surface and holds up to steam and direct sun.

Microfibre cloth and water. The thin glossy finish wipes clean; Dura Satin and Matte resist scratching and need nothing beyond a soft cloth.

Yes. Every WenderVista tile is painted in-house by Reid Wender and hand-finished at the Knoxville studio. No licensing, no third-party catalog behind it.

— if this one stayed with you

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