shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileUnited States

on the Gulf coastal plain of southeast Texas, about 80 kilometres inland from Galveston Bay

Houston

Name: Houston — on ceramic tile, by WenderVista
Brand: WenderVista

— — the city that bends a bayou into a downtown.

— 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

“Fourth-largest city in the United States, built on a slow brown bayou about fifty miles inland from Galveston Bay. Houston grew on cotton, then cattle, then oil, then the Johnson Space Center. The downtown skyline rises out of pine-flat country with no warning. Summer is long. The food, between the Tex-Mex and the Vietnamese, is some of the best in America.

from the studio

— bring it home

Houston, 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 Houston

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

Houston was founded in 1836 by the Allen brothers and named for Sam Houston, the general who weeks earlier had won Texan independence at San Jacinto. The city sits on the Gulf coastal plain about 80 kilometres inland from Galveston Bay, linked to the Gulf by the Houston Ship Channel. With roughly 2.3 million residents in the city and 7.5 million in the metro, it is the fourth-largest in the United States, behind New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

— informed by Wikipedia — Houston, US Census — Houston

— the air

Houston's climate is humid subtropical: long, heavy summers with daily highs near 35°C from June through September, mild winters that rarely freeze. Hurricane season runs June through November. Harvey dumped over 50 inches of rain on parts of the city in August 2017, the wettest tropical cyclone in United States history. The bayou system, once a flood risk, has been re-engineered into a 240-kilometre network of linear parks centred on Buffalo Bayou Park.

— informed by NOAA — Hurricane Harvey, Buffalo Bayou Partnership

— the visit

The Johnson Space Center, NASA's home for human spaceflight since 1961, sits about 40 kilometres southeast of downtown near Clear Lake; the public Space Center Houston welcomes about a million visitors a year. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston holds one of the largest collections in the American South. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the world's largest, runs twenty days every March at NRG Stadium and draws over two million attendees.

— informed by NASA — Johnson Space Center, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

— where

United States · Harris County, Texas

— elevation

24 m · 80 ft

— position

29.7604° N · 95.3698° 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.

40 km SE

Space Center Houston

NASA visitor centre

80 km SE

Galveston

Gulf coast island

3 km W

Buffalo Bayou Park

linear park

5 km S

Museum District

cultural quarter

12 km S

NRG Stadium

stadium

Houston

Space Center Houston

Galveston

Buffalo Bayou Park

Museum District

NRG Stadium

— common questions

What people ask.

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

— about the place

Houston has been NASA's hub for human spaceflight since the Manned Spacecraft Center, now the Johnson Space Center, opened in 1961. Houston was the first word Neil Armstrong spoke from the lunar surface in July 1969.

The city proper has about 2.3 million residents across 1,650 square kilometres, making it the fourth-largest US city. The nine-county metro is home to roughly 7.5 million, behind only New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Brothers Augustus and John Allen, New York land speculators, founded Houston in August 1836 and named it for Sam Houston, the general who had defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto that April. It was capital of the Republic of Texas from 1837 to 1839.

Energy first: the city is home to more than 4,500 energy-related firms and the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world. NASA, the Port of Houston, and aerospace round out the base.

Not directly. Houston sits about 80 kilometres inland; the Houston Ship Channel was dredged from Buffalo Bayou to Galveston Bay so ocean vessels could reach the city's port.

Every March, for twenty days, at NRG Stadium. It is the largest livestock show and rodeo in the world; recent years have drawn over two million attendees per season.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Houstonians take a quiet pride in the city's scale and mix; the skyline-and-bayou silhouette reads as home. A Medium with a note from the studio carries the meaning gently.

The warm copper-and-deep-blue palette suits Modern Southern, Texas-modern, and Jewel-tone Maximalist rooms. The strong skyline also holds a Minimalist wall where one piece carries the colour.

Yes. Texas-modern leans on warm neutrals, native materials, and one statement landscape piece. This tile fills that role without competing with the rest of the room.

A single Large reads from across a room. Above a wider sofa, a four-tile Mural holds the wall; a nine-tile Mural fits stairwells and double-height entries.

Yes, in Dura Satin or Matte. Both finishes resist moisture and scratching, so the piece can live above a vanity or a backsplash.

Microfibre cloth, lukewarm water. No abrasives, no ammonia. The colour lives in the surface and will not fade with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is curated by Reid Wender and hand-finished in-house in Knoxville, Tennessee. No licensing, no third-party imagery.

— if this one stayed with you