Joshua Tree Forest Burning Sky

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.

Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.

Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.

In southeastern California, about 130 miles east of Los Angeles. The park sits where the higher Mojave Desert meets the lower Colorado Desert, with the towns of Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms on its north side and the Cottonwood entrance off Interstate 10 to the south.

The Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is endemic to the Mojave Desert and grows mainly between 1,300 and 5,900 feet of elevation. Joshua Tree National Park holds some of the densest stands because the western half of the park sits in the Mojave at the right altitude, with the rainfall pattern the species needs.

Mormon settlers crossing the Mojave in the mid-1800s named the yucca for the biblical Joshua, said to be lifting his arms to the sky in prayer. The Spanish-speaking ranchers in the area had called it izote de desierto, or desert dagger.

Desert air carries fine dust that scatters blue light strongly, so the long-wavelength red and orange survive the horizontal path to the eye. The afterglow lingers for about thirty minutes after the sun is gone. Joshua Tree was designated an International Dark Sky Park in 2017, so the colour fades into stars rather than city light.

October through May. Summer highs routinely exceed 100°F (38°C) and the granite holds heat well after dark. Wildflowers bloom from late February through April in good years; the cooler nights from November through February give the clearest skies.

About 794,000 acres, or 1,242 square miles. It became a National Monument in 1936 under Franklin D. Roosevelt and was redesignated a National Park in 1994 under the California Desert Protection Act, the same legislation that created Death Valley National Park.

It has been a meaningful gift for our customers with ties to the high desert: climbers from Joshua Tree, photographers, people who grew up driving Highway 62. The burning-sky composition lands harder for someone who has stood at Keys View at sunset. A Coaster or Small with a handwritten note from the studio carries well; a Coaster Set works for a household with a thing for the desert.

The colour signature, red-orange sky against deep tree silhouettes, sits well with desert-modern, southwestern, and warm minimalist rooms. It can anchor a wall in a sage or sand-toned room, or punch against deep teal and oxblood in a more maximalist setting.

Yes. Desert-modern and high-desert aesthetics have held through the 2020s alongside Japandi and biophilic design. The Joshua tree silhouette has become an emblem of the look in southern California interiors and is showing up in Texas and New Mexico homes as well.

A single Large carries a console table or a reading chair well. For a sofa or a king bed, a 4-tile Mural gives the artwork the breathing room the sky needs; for a long entry wall or a stairwell, the 9-tile Mural makes the burning sky read across the room.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so steam and splashes do not affect it. The Glossy finish is meant for framed wall pieces away from direct water.

A microfibre cloth and water. The colour lives in the surface, so it cannot be rubbed off; harsh chemicals are not needed and not recommended.

Yes. Every piece is painted by Reid Wender, the curator, in our distinctive stained-glass and alcohol-ink visual language, then slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure. Wender Studios is a single studio in Knoxville, Tennessee; nothing is licensed.