Wender·Vista
Củ Chi tunnels
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileVietnam
two hours northwest of Saigon, under the rubber forest

Củ Chi tunnels

— — the country the ground remembered.

— 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

“Two hours northwest of Saigon, the rubber forest at Bến Đình hides a country underneath it. Around two hundred fifty kilometres of tunnels, hand-dug through laterite clay, three levels deep. Above, the trees grew back. The earth still carries the shape of what happened here. Visitors duck through a widened length and come up squinting into the same sun. — from the studio

from the studio
Củ Chi tunnels
— bring it home

Củ Chi tunnels, 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 Củ Chi tunnels

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

The Củ Chi tunnels lie in Củ Chi District, about seventy kilometres northwest of central Ho Chi Minh City, in the rubber and palm country toward the Cambodian border. The network, dug by hand into hard laterite clay across the 1940s through the 1960s, reached roughly two hundred fifty kilometres at its peak and worked on three levels, with kitchens, field hospitals, and meeting rooms folded into the earth. Two visitor sites are preserved today, Bến Dược and Bến Đình, both operated as memorial parks by the city.

— the silence

Above ground, the forest sounds ordinary: cicadas in the rubber trees, a vendor frying spring rolls near the entrance, the soft thud of a rifle from the demonstration range a few hundred metres off. The ground itself is quiet in a way that registers slowly. Trapdoors the size of a hardback book sit flush with the leaf litter. The original tunnels, only about eighty centimetres tall and sixty wide, held thousands of people for months. The visitor sections are widened. The quiet is original.

— informed by Smithsonian Magazine
— the visit

Both memorial sites are open daily, generally from seven in the morning until five in the afternoon, with a modest entrance fee of around one hundred ten thousand đồng for foreign visitors. Bến Đình is closer to the city and busier; Bến Dược, about fifteen kilometres further on, holds the larger memorial temple to the district's dead. Most visitors come by guided coach from District 1, a round trip of roughly four hours including the boat option up the Saigon River. Bring water and shoes you do not mind kneeling in.

— informed by Ho Chi Minh City Tourism
— where
Vietnam · Củ Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City
— position
11.1417° N · 106.4669° 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.
70 km SE
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
city
60 km NW
Tây Ninh and the Cao Đài Holy See
temple city
5 km S
Saigon River
river
N
Củ Chi tunnels
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
Tây Ninh and the Cao Đài Holy See
Saigon River
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Củ Chi tunnels — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Estimates put the full network at roughly two hundred fifty kilometres at its wartime peak, on three levels, running from the outskirts of Saigon toward the Cambodian border.

Digging began in the late 1940s during the war with France and expanded through the 1960s under the National Liberation Front. Most of the network in use during the American war dates from 1960 onward.

The demonstration sections at Bến Đình and Bến Dược have been widened and reinforced for taller modern visitors. Original passages were about eighty centimetres tall by sixty wide.

Bến Đình is closer to Ho Chi Minh City and shorter on time. Bến Dược, fifteen kilometres further, is larger and holds the memorial temple to district war dead.

Roughly seventy kilometres northwest of the city centre, in Củ Chi District. Coach trips take about ninety minutes by road, or longer by boat up the Saigon River.

— about the piece in your home

Many of our Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American buyers have chosen this piece for parents or grandparents from the south. A Small with a handwritten note from the studio travels well in mail.

The greens and earth tones sit naturally with warm minimalist, mid-century modern, and quiet study or library rooms. It also reads well in spaces with rattan, teak, or unfinished wood.

A single Large covers most sofas. For a wider wall or a long console, the four-tile Mural is the usual choice, with the nine-tile Mural for double-height rooms.

Yes, in Dura Satin or Matte. Both finishes hold up to humidity and splash, and the colour stays as it left the studio. Glossy is reserved for framed wall pieces.

A microfibre cloth and plain water. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so it does not lift with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is curated and finished by our family studio in Knoxville. No outside licensing, no stock imagery, no reprints from third parties.

— if this one stayed with you

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