Wender·Vista
Pico Island
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tilePortugal
in the central Azores, mid-Atlantic

Pico Island

— — a mountain rising straight from the sea.

— 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

“An Atlantic island built around a single volcano — Ponta do Pico, the highest point in Portugal at 2,351 metres. The lower slopes hold black-lava vineyards walled in stone, a UNESCO landscape worked by hand for four centuries. Whales pass close to shore. The summit clears about one morning in three, and the cone holds its own weather.

from the studio
Pico Island
— bring it home

Pico 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 Pico 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

Pico is the second-largest island of the Azores archipelago, in the central group of the Portuguese Atlantic, roughly 1,400 kilometres west of Lisbon. The island is dominated by Ponta do Pico, a stratovolcano that reaches 2,351 metres, the highest summit in Portugal. The Azores were settled by Portuguese navigators in the fifteenth century under the patronage of Henry the Navigator. Today around 14,000 people live across the island's 446 square kilometres, mostly in the towns of Madalena, São Roque, and Lajes do Pico on the coast.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the stone

The vineyards on Pico's western and southern coasts are walled into thousands of small basalt enclosures called currais, built over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to shelter Verdelho vines from the Atlantic wind and salt spray. The landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture was inscribed by UNESCO in 2004 as a World Heritage cultural site. The Lajido of Criação Velha, on the coast near Madalena, holds the densest concentration of intact currais. The stone is laid dry, without mortar, and the volcanic soil between the walls is sometimes only the depth of one root.

— informed by UNESCO
— the water

The waters off Pico are among the best in Europe for whale-watching. Sperm whales are present year-round, joined seasonally by blue, fin, sei, and humpback whales on the spring migration north between March and June. The Museu dos Baleeiros at Lajes do Pico holds the island's whaling history; commercial hunting ended on the Azores in 1987, and the boats that once chased the whales now carry researchers and visitors. The Caldeirinhas natural pools at Lajido offer swimming in the lava-rock coast on calm days. The island has no sand beach.

— informed by Wikipedia
— where
Portugal · Pico Island, Azores
— elevation
2,351 m · 7,713 ft
— position
38.4683° N · 28.3997° 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.
8 km W
Faial
neighbouring island
10 km W
Horta
port town (Faial)
18 km N
São Jorge
neighbouring island
at the lake
Madalena
ferry-port town
at the lake
Lajes do Pico
whaling-museum town
N
Pico Island
Faial
Horta
São Jorge
Madalena
Lajes do Pico
— common questions

What people ask.

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

Ponta do Pico reaches 2,351 metres, the highest summit in Portugal and the highest point of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge above sea level. The cone holds its own cap of cloud most days.

The Pico Island Vineyard Culture was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004 as a cultural landscape, recognising the dry-stone currais built to shelter Verdelho vines from Atlantic wind.

Verdelho is the historic variety, planted in the basalt enclosures along the coast. Verdelho fortified wines from Pico were prized at the Russian imperial court in the eighteenth century before vine diseases reset the industry.

Sperm whales are present year-round in the channel between Pico and Faial. Blue, fin, sei, and humpback whales pass on the spring migration between March and June, with peak sightings in April and May.

Pico Airport receives flights from Lisbon and from other Azorean islands. A frequent ferry crosses the eight-kilometre channel from Madalena to Horta on Faial in roughly thirty minutes.

Yes. The standard route from Casa da Montanha, on the south-western flank, climbs about 1,150 metres over 3.5 kilometres of marked basalt. Climbers must register and carry a tracker; the round trip averages seven to eight hours.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Pico is the home island for many Azorean families, especially in the New England and California diaspora, and the volcano is the silhouette people grow up looking at. A Small or Medium carries the recognition.

The basalt-and-ocean palette sits well with coastal-modern, Portuguese-traditional, and mountain-modern rooms. The deep blues hold up against whitewashed walls or weathered wood, and the silhouette anchors a room without crowding other art.

Coastal-modern has shifted toward darker Atlantic palettes — slate blues, basalt greys, sea-green — and away from pale beach pastels. Pico's volcano-and-ocean tones belong to that turn rather than the older Hamptons look.

A single Large fits most consoles. Above a three-seat sofa, the four-tile Mural sits in proportion; on a long wall behind a deep sectional, the nine-tile Mural carries the scale without crowding.

Yes. Choose Dura Satin or Matte for either room. The finish handles steam, splash, and direct sun without lifting. Reserve the Glossy for dry display walls.

A soft microfibre cloth, lightly damp with water. No abrasives, no ammonia-based cleaners. The colour lives in the surface beneath the finish, so ordinary cleaning will not lift or dull it.

Yes. Every WenderVista tile is painted by Reid Wender in our Knoxville studio and hand-finished in-house. We license no images and reprint no third-party work.

— if this one stayed with you

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