Wender·Vista
Tabuk
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileSaudi Arabia
in the northwest, near the Jordanian border

Tabuk

— — the desert station the railway forgot.

— 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 high-desert city of the Tabuk plateau, about 770 metres up, the last major Saudi stop on the old caravan road north to Jordan and the Levant. The Ottomans left a small stone castle in the old town and a stone-built station of the Hejaz Railway just beyond it. Cooler nights than the rest of the kingdom; cooler winters; a quiet market for the region's stone-fruit. The Red Sea coast opens to the west, where NEOM is rising.

from the studio
Tabuk
— bring it home

Tabuk, 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 Tabuk

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

Tabuk lies on a plateau in northwestern Saudi Arabia at an elevation of roughly 770 metres, about 150 kilometres east of the Red Sea and 220 kilometres south of the Jordanian border. It is the capital of Tabuk Province, the largest of the Saudi regions by area, and the historical centre of the northern Hejaz. The city sits along the route of the old caravan road from Damascus to Medina and, more recently, on Highway 15 and the northern leg of the Saudi rail network.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the stone

Tabuk Castle, in the old town, was rebuilt in 1559 under the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent on the site of an earlier fort that protected the Hajj caravan from Damascus. The two-storey square plan around a central courtyard is small enough to walk through in twenty minutes. A short walk away, the Hejaz Railway station, built in stone in 1906 under the German engineer Heinrich August Meissner, still carries its original water tower, locomotive shed, and a parked steam engine.

— informed by Wikipedia: Hejaz Railway
— the year

The Expedition of Tabuk in October 630 CE brought the Prophet Muhammad's army north from Medina in the ninth year of the Hijra. No battle was fought; the campaign returned south after a treaty was signed with the Christian governor of Aylah on the Gulf of Aqaba. The associated mosque of Al-Tawba, rebuilt in the 1990s by the Saudi government on its traditional site, is among the few places in the kingdom marked by an explicit event from the Prophet's life.

— where
Saudi Arabia · Tabuk, Tabuk Province
— elevation
770 m · 2,526 ft
— position
28.3800° N · 36.5700° 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.
180 km W
NEOM
development region
320 km SE
Al-Ula
heritage region
240 km NW
Aqaba
Jordanian port
N
Tabuk
NEOM
Al-Ula
Aqaba
— common questions

What people ask.

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

In the northwest of Saudi Arabia, on a plateau about 770 metres above sea level, around 220 kilometres south of the Jordanian border and 150 kilometres east of the Red Sea.

A small Ottoman-era stone fort in the old town, rebuilt in 1559 under Suleiman the Magnificent on the site of an earlier fort that protected the Damascus Hajj caravan. It is now a small museum.

A stone-built station completed in 1906 on the Damascus to Medina line of the Hejaz Railway, designed under engineer Heinrich Meissner. The original water tower, locomotive shed, and a Hartmann steam engine remain on site.

A military campaign led by the Prophet Muhammad north from Medina in October 630 CE. No battle was fought; the army returned south after a treaty was signed with the Christian governor of Aylah.

The plateau elevation near 770 metres, the latitude near 28 degrees north, and the open desert exposure give Tabuk noticeably cooler winters and milder summer nights than the Hejaz coast or the central Najd.

NEOM is being developed along the Red Sea coast of Tabuk Province, roughly 150 to 200 kilometres west of the city. Tabuk's regional airport serves as the main inland gateway for the project.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. The northern provinces have grown a strong regional pride alongside the NEOM build-out. A Small or Medium with a handwritten studio note travels well for someone who grew up on the plateau.

The sand-gold, dusty-blue, and weathered-stone palette suits warm Minimalist rooms, Hejazi-modern interiors, and earthen Maximalist studies. It also softens cooler Scandinavian spaces with a single warm note.

Yes. The bone, ochre, and oxidised-iron register sits in the centre of the warm Minimalist and Wabi-sabi turn, and the Ottoman stonework reads as architectural rather than ornamental.

A single Large carries above most sofas. A four-tile Mural opens out for wider walls behind a console, and a nine-tile Mural reads at near-window scale across the desert plateau.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and unbothered by steam and splash, which suits a backsplash, a vanity, or a shower wall.

A soft microfibre cloth and water is enough. The colour lives in the ceramic surface beneath a thin protective layer, so there is nothing to flake, peel, or fade.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in the Knoxville studio under Reid Wender's eye. Nothing is licensed in, and nothing is licensed out to other makers.

— if this one stayed with you

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