shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileRussian Empire

a sand spit in the eastern Caspian

Ogurja Ada

Name: Ogurja Ada — on ceramic tile, by WenderVista
Brand: WenderVista

— — a thin island the sea forgot to finish.

— 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

“A narrow strip of sand off the Transcaspian shore, roughly forty kilometres long and a few hundred metres wide at most. In the Empire's atlases it was Ogurchinsky, a fishing and seal-hunting station, a lighthouse, a list of soundings. The Caspian seal still hauls out on its beaches in winter. The wind comes off the water and does not let up.

from the studio

— bring it home

Ogurja Ada, 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 Ogurja Ada

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

Ogurja Ada (Russian Ogurchinsky) is a long narrow sandbar island in the eastern Caspian Sea, off the coast of what was then the Empire's Transcaspian Oblast. It runs roughly 42 km north to south and rarely more than a kilometre wide. Grigory Karelin's 1832 Caspian survey mapped its shoals and named its anchorages. A fishing and seal-hunting station operated through the late imperial period, supplied by Krasnovodsk on the mainland. The island sits in shallow water, its dunes shifting season by season under the Caspian's prevailing northerlies.

— informed by Wikipedia: Ogurja Ada, Wikipedia: Grigory Karelin

— the silence

The island carries little but wind, sand, and saltwort. There is no fresh water; supplies came in by boat from the Cheleken peninsula. Caspian seals (Pusa caspica, endemic to the sea) hauled out on its beaches by the thousands in winter, drawing hunters from the imperial fisheries. Migrating waterfowl used the lagoons. The lighthouse, built in the latter half of the 19th century, was the only light for fifty kilometres of coast. Those who came took soundings, counted seals, or waited for the wind to drop before sailing home.

— informed by Wikipedia: Caspian seal

— the year

Winter brought the seal haul-out and the imperial sealing crews; spring brought migrating birds along the eastern Caspian flyway. Summer was the worst season, with no shade, no water, daytime temperatures past 40 °C, the sea flat and hot. Autumn moved the wind from north to south-east and brought the fishing skiffs from Krasnovodsk for the sturgeon and bream runs through the shallows around the island. The lighthouse keeper's year was set by these arrivals and by the calendar of Astrakhan-bound supply boats.

— informed by Wikipedia: Ogurja Ada

— where

Russian Empire · Transcaspian Oblast

— elevation

0 m · 0 ft

— position

38.7000° N · 53.5000° 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.

35 km E

Cheleken Peninsula

peninsula

90 km NE

Krasnovodsk

port

Ogurja Ada

Cheleken Peninsula

Krasnovodsk

— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Ogurja Ada — and about bringing the piece home.

— about the place

A long narrow sandbar in the eastern Caspian Sea, off the coast of what is now Turkmenistan. In the Russian Empire it lay within Transcaspian Oblast and was charted as Ogurchinsky Island.

Roughly 42 kilometres from north to south, rarely more than a kilometre wide. The shoreline shifts with wind and current; old imperial surveys placed the working anchorages on the eastern lee side.

Grigory Karelin's 1832 Caspian survey produced the first systematic chart of the island and its shoals. Later imperial hydrographic missions refined the soundings around the lighthouse station.

Sealing and fishing. Crews from Krasnovodsk and Astrakhan worked the winter Caspian-seal haul-out and the sturgeon runs through the shallows. A lighthouse built in the late 19th century served the surrounding coast.

Pusa caspica, the world's only Caspian-endemic seal, hauled out on the island's beaches by the thousands each winter. The imperial sealing trade ran from these beaches before stock collapse later closed it.

Arid and exposed. Summer days pass 40 °C with no fresh water on the island; winter brings the seal season and steady northerly wind. Rain falls rarely and lightly across the year.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. The island sits at the edge of two worlds, the Russian sealing trade and the Transcaspian coast, and the piece carries that meeting well. A Medium reads as a quiet study.

The pale sand and grey-blue water tones settle into coastal-modern, Scandi-quiet, and warm-minimalist rooms. The piece reads cool on a limewash wall and lifts a dark wood frame.

It sits with the slow turn toward less-painted coasts and quieter palettes in interior design. At home with driftwood-modern, Aegean-quiet, and the wider revival of small-scale historical map work.

A single Large reads from across the room. For longer walls a 4-tile Mural carries the horizon better; the 9-tile Mural suits a feature wall at least eight feet wide.

Yes. Order Dura Satin or Matte for a kitchen splashback or bathroom feature. Both resist scratching and steam, and the colour lives in the surface.

A microfibre cloth and warm water. No abrasives, no ammonia. The thin glossy finish keeps the colour stable through decades of normal wall use.

Yes. Reid Wender selects every place that enters the WenderVista atlas, and the visual treatment is the studio's own. No third-party licensing.

— if this one stayed with you