shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileUnited States

on Long Island Sound, at the mouth of the Pequonnock

Bridgeport

— — the city P.T. Barnum left his name on.

— 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

“Bridgeport sits on Long Island Sound where the Pequonnock River runs out into Black Rock Harbor. It is the largest city in Connecticut and the smallest of the state's three working ports. Phineas T. Barnum was once its mayor and built three of his Italianate villas along the shore. The city today is a layered place of nineteenth-century brick, a working harbor, and the Beardsley Park elms that Frederick Law Olmsted laid out in 1881.

from the studio

— bring it home

Bridgeport, 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 Bridgeport

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

Bridgeport sits in Fairfield County on Long Island Sound, sixty miles northeast of midtown Manhattan and about an hour by Metro-North from Grand Central. The city was incorporated as a borough of Stratford in 1821 and as a city in 1836 around the natural harbor at the mouth of the Pequonnock River. With a 2020 population of 148,654, it is the largest city in Connecticut, narrowly ahead of New Haven and Stamford. The Bridgeport Harbor handles bulk freight and is the western terminus of the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry across the Sound.

— informed by Wikipedia — Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry

— the year

Bridgeport is inseparable from Phineas Taylor Barnum, who served four terms as mayor in 1875 and helped move the city from a small port to a manufacturing centre. He built three Italianate villas along the shore — Iranistan, Lindencroft, and Waldemere — and donated the land for the seaside park Olmsted designed. The Barnum Museum, founded by Barnum in 1893 and rebuilt after damage in subsequent storms, sits downtown on Main Street and holds his papers, circus artifacts, and the Tom Thumb miniatures. The annual Barnum Festival has run since 1949.

— informed by Barnum Museum, Barnum Festival

— the water

The Sound is the working edge of the city. From Seaside Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux beginning in 1865, the breakwater reaches out toward Fayerweather Island and a small white lighthouse built in 1808. Pleasure Beach, a former amusement-park peninsula closed in 1996, reopened to foot traffic by water taxi in 2014. Across the harbor mouth, the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry has crossed to Long Island since 1883, a one-hour-fifteen-minute passage that long predates the interstate. Striped bass run the Pequonnock in spring.

— informed by Wikipedia — Seaside Park, Wikipedia — Fayerweather Island Light

— where

United States · Bridgeport, Fairfield County, Connecticut

— elevation

3 m · 10 ft

— position

41.1865° N · 73.1952° 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.

3 km S

Seaside Park

olmsted shoreline park

5 km N

Beardsley Park

olmsted city park

4 km W

Black Rock

historic harbor neighborhood

4 km SW

Fayerweather Island Light

lighthouse

Bridgeport

Seaside Park

Beardsley Park

Black Rock

Fayerweather Island Light

— common questions

What people ask.

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

— about the place

On Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Pequonnock River, in Fairfield County. It is sixty miles northeast of Manhattan and roughly an hour from Grand Central by Metro-North.

Yes. With a 2020 census population of 148,654, Bridgeport is the largest city in Connecticut, narrowly ahead of New Haven and Stamford.

Phineas T. Barnum lived in Bridgeport for much of his adult life and served four terms as mayor beginning in 1875. He built three villas on the shore and helped move the city from a port to a manufacturing centre.

A museum on Main Street founded by P.T. Barnum himself in 1893. It holds his papers, circus artifacts, the Tom Thumb miniatures, and rotating exhibits on the nineteenth-century American showman.

About one hour and fifteen minutes across Long Island Sound. The route has operated since 1883, making it one of the oldest continuously running ferry services on the U.S. East Coast.

Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the team behind Central Park, beginning in 1865. The park runs along the Sound on land partly donated by P.T. Barnum and his business partners.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Park City natives recognise the harbor, the lighthouse off Fayerweather, and the Barnum silhouette right away. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note suits a hometown or returning-alumnus gift well.

The brick reds and Sound-blue palette sit comfortably in Traditional New England, Coastal-modern, and Industrial-loft rooms. It plays well against white trim, oak floors, and exposed brick.

It fits. The coastal-modern direction is moving toward named harbors and lighthouses over generic seashell motifs, and a tile naming an actual working port reads as more considered than mass-market beach art.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large reads cleanly. For more presence above an eight-foot sofa, a 4-tile Mural extends the harbor horizon; a 9-tile Mural anchors a stair landing or a long entry wall.

Yes. The Dura Satin finish handles steam and splash and resists scratching; Matte does the same with no sheen. Either suits a powder-room wall, a kitchen backsplash, or a coastal mudroom.

A soft microfibre cloth and water. No ammonia-based glass cleaner on the Matte finish, and nothing abrasive on any finish. The colour lives in the ceramic surface.

Yes. Original to Wender Studios, curated by Reid Wender, produced in-house in Knoxville. Single studio, no licensing, no third-party stock imagery.

— if this one stayed with you