Wender·Vista
Nazca Lines
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tilePeru
on the high desert plain south of Lima

Nazca Lines

— figures drawn for a sky to read.

— 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 Nazca Lines run across a four-hundred-square-kilometre stretch of the Pampa de Jumana, between the Andes and the Pacific, four hundred kilometres south of Lima. More than three hundred figures, a hummingbird, a monkey, a spider, a thousand straight lines, were swept into the desert pavement by a people who held this coast from roughly 500 BCE to 500 CE. The air above is dry and almost wind-still, which is why they are still here. from the studio

from the studio
Nazca Lines
— bring it home

Nazca Lines, 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 Nazca Lines

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

The Nazca Lines are a complex of geoglyphs etched into the desert pavement of the Pampa de Jumana, in the Nazca and Palpa provinces of Peru's Ica Region, roughly four hundred kilometres south of Lima. They were created by the Nazca culture between approximately 500 BCE and 500 CE by removing the dark, oxidised surface stones to reveal the lighter clay beneath. UNESCO inscribed the site in 1994. The complex covers about 450 square kilometres and includes more than three hundred figurative and geometric designs.

— the air

The Pampa de Jumana is among the driest, most wind-still places on earth. The site averages less than 4 millimetres of rain a year, and the cold Humboldt Current offshore suppresses both cloud and surface wind. The desert pavement consists of iron-oxidised pebbles laid over lighter Maria clay, and the shallow grooves the Nazca cut have held their edges across two millennia. The same stillness that first drew the figures into the desert is the only reason any of them remain.

— the visit

The figures are too large to read from the ground. Most visitors take a thirty-minute light-aircraft flight from Maria Reiche Neuman Aerodrome at the town of Nazca, which loops the hummingbird, monkey, spider, condor, and astronaut. A roadside observation tower (mirador) on the Pan-American Highway gives a free, partial view of three figures from about thirteen metres up. The nearest city is Ica, 140 kilometres north; most travelers arrive on the overnight bus from Lima or the morning bus from Arequipa.

— informed by PROMPERÚ — Nazca
— where
Peru · Nazca Province, Ica Region
— elevation
460 m · 1,509 ft
— position
-14.7390° S · 75.1300° W
— 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
Maria Reiche Mirador
observation tower
25 km W
Cahuachi
Nazca ceremonial site
30 km S
Chauchilla Cemetery
pre-Inca burial site
140 km N
Ica
city
145 km N
Huacachina
desert oasis
N
Nazca Lines
Maria Reiche Mirador
Cahuachi
Chauchilla Cemetery
Ica
Huacachina
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Most scholars date them to the Nazca culture, between 500 BCE and 500 CE, with earlier Paracas-era figures on the Palpa hills. Radiocarbon dates on associated ceramics anchor the range. The site is about two thousand years old.

By removing the dark, iron-oxidised surface pebbles of the desert pavement to expose the lighter clay beneath. The contrast forms the line. The technique requires little tool work, and the dry, wind-still climate has preserved the grooves for two millennia.

Most current theory ties them to water: ritual processions along the lines invoking rain or marking subterranean aquifers, the lifeblood of the Nazca culture. Earlier astronomical-calendar theories have largely been displaced. The full purpose is not settled.

The complex covers about 450 square kilometres of the Pampa de Jumana. The largest figures span 200 to 300 metres across. The longest straight lines run unbroken for nine kilometres over the gently rolling desert pavement.

A thirty-minute light-aircraft flight from Maria Reiche Neuman Aerodrome at Nazca town loops the main figures. A roadside observation tower (mirador) on the Pan-American Highway offers a free partial view of three figures from about thirteen metres up.

— about the piece in your home

It has carried well for customers with Peruvian or Andean roots, and for travelers who flew the line themselves. The Medium suits a study; the Large carries above a console as a city-piece of the desert.

The piece reads desert-pale and oxidised-rust against deep indigo. It sits well in Southwestern-modern interiors, in earth-toned Minimalist rooms, and in Bohemian-modern spaces that pair textile and stone with a single graphic focal point.

A single Large at 24 inches anchors a console; above a standard sofa a 4-tile Mural or a 9-tile Mural holds the wall. The geoglyph composition also reads well as a horizontal Triptych over a long credenza.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and shrug off moisture; the colour lives in the ceramic surface itself. The Glossy finish suits display walls away from steam.

A microfibre cloth and water. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so it does not lift with normal cleaning. Avoid abrasive pads on the Glossy finish.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in the studio's stained-glass and alcohol-ink language by Reid Wender, the curator. No licensing, no third-party imagery. One eye, one atlas.

— 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.