Wender·Vista
Leyte
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tilePhilippines
in the Eastern Visayas, across the strait from Samar

Leyte

— — the island MacArthur waded back to.

— 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 long island of rice flats and coconut hills in the Eastern Visayas, shaped by the Pacific on one shoulder and the inland Camotes Sea on the other. Tacloban faces the San Juanico Strait, where the slim white arc of the bridge to Samar carries traffic between the two islands. South of the city, at Palo, the bronze figures of the MacArthur Landing Memorial wade ashore at Red Beach, where the return to the Philippines began in October 1944. The interior rises into the Central Cordillera, and the rain falls almost every afternoon.

from the studio
Leyte
— bring it home

Leyte, 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 Leyte

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

Leyte is the eighth-largest island in the Philippines, about 7,368 square kilometres, lying in the Eastern Visayas between Samar to the east and Cebu to the west. It is divided into two provinces, Leyte and Southern Leyte, both within Region VIII. The regional capital is Tacloban on the San Juanico Strait, connected to Samar by the 2.16-kilometre San Juanico Bridge, opened in 1973. The Central Cordillera runs the long axis of the island; the highest point is around 1,300 metres in the interior north of Ormoc.

— the year

On 20 October 1944 General Douglas MacArthur came ashore at Red Beach near the town of Palo, fulfilling the I shall return promise made on Corregidor two years earlier. The Battle of Leyte Gulf in the days that followed was the largest naval engagement of the Second World War. The MacArthur Landing Memorial on Red Beach, with its life-size bronze figures wading through a shallow lagoon, is the centre of the annual Leyte Landing commemoration every 20 October.

— the air

Leyte sits in the warm pool of the western Pacific and lies directly across the path of most tropical cyclones approaching the Philippines from the east. Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, made landfall over Eastern Samar and Leyte on 8 November 2013, driving a six-metre storm surge into Tacloban and killing more than six thousand people across the region. The city was rebuilt over the following decade, and the storm-warning sirens along the Tacloban waterfront are now part of daily life.

— where
Philippines · Leyte and Southern Leyte provinces, Region VIII
— position
11.0000° N · 124.8500° 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.
12 km N
Tacloban
regional capital
15 km NE
San Juanico Bridge
Samar link
95 km W
Ormoc
west-coast port city
N
Leyte
Tacloban
San Juanico Bridge
Ormoc
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Leyte is an island in the Eastern Visayas of the Philippines, about 7,368 square kilometres, lying between Samar to the east and Cebu to the west. It is divided into Leyte and Southern Leyte provinces in Region VIII.

On 20 October 1944 General Douglas MacArthur landed at Red Beach near Palo, beginning the liberation of the Philippines. The Battle of Leyte Gulf that followed was the largest naval engagement of the Second World War.

It is the 2.16-kilometre bridge across the San Juanico Strait connecting Leyte to Samar, opened in 1973 and for decades the longest bridge in the Philippines. It carries the Pan-Philippine Highway between the two islands.

Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, made landfall over Leyte on 8 November 2013. A six-metre storm surge struck Tacloban, killing more than six thousand people across the region and reshaping the city's waterfront.

Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban has daily flights from Manila and Cebu. Ferries connect Ormoc to Cebu City, and the San Juanico Bridge links the island to Samar and the rest of the Pan-Philippine Highway.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Leyte carries weight for families with roots in Tacloban, Palo, or Ormoc, and for descendants of veterans of the 1944 landings. A Small or Medium with a handwritten studio note has travelled well to both communities.

The deep Pacific blues and inland greens read well in coastal-modern, tropical modern, and warm minimalist rooms. It also holds against rattan and dark hardwood where the island green echoes the room.

Yes. Tropical modern leans on specific real places rather than generic palm motifs, and an island piece carries more meaning than a generic beach scene. The Medium reads well above a console.

Above a sofa, a single Large carries the wall. Above a console, the Medium is right. For a larger feature wall, the 4-tile Mural opens the strait and the bridge out across the room.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and handle steam and salt air. The Glossy finish is best kept to dry walls in living rooms, studies, and bedrooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water. No solvents, no abrasives. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so the image will not lift or fade with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to the studio. We do not license stock imagery. Reid Wender curates the atlas; the studio hand-finishes every tile in Knoxville, Tennessee.

— 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.