Wender·Vista
Shibam
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileYemen
in the Hadhramaut valley of eastern Yemen

Shibam

— the towers the desert made of mud.

— 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 walled city of mud-brick towers in the Hadhramaut valley of eastern Yemen, sixteenth century in its present form. About five hundred buildings rise five to eleven storeys from a single oval block above the wadi floor, packed close enough that the alleys between them stay shaded most of the day. UNESCO inscribed the city in 1982. Around seven thousand people still live inside the walls.

from the studio
Shibam
— bring it home

Shibam, 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 Shibam

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

Shibam sits on a low rise above the Wadi Hadhramaut in Hadhramaut Governorate, eastern Yemen, about 480 kilometres east of Sana'a. The walled town covers a small oval footprint of roughly half a square kilometre. Most of the five hundred or so tower houses date in their present form to the sixteenth century, raised after a 1532 flood destroyed much of the earlier town on the same site. Walls and towers are mud brick on stone foundations. UNESCO inscribed Shibam in 1982.

— informed by UNESCO, Wikipedia
— the stone

The towers run five to eleven storeys, the tallest near thirty metres, built almost entirely of unfired mud brick on shallow stone footings. Lower walls are over a metre thick; upper storeys taper. Wood lintels and beams are typically tamarisk or imported teak. The exterior is replastered every few years with a mud-and-lime wash that protects the brick from the rare but heavy seasonal rains of the Hadhramaut wadis.

— informed by UNESCO description
— the visit

Shibam has been on the UNESCO World Heritage in Danger list since 2015. The ongoing conflict in Yemen has limited foreign access; the Hadhramaut governorate has been more stable than the west of the country but consular advice for most countries is currently against travel. About seven thousand people continue to live inside the walls, and local conservation crews have led the recent replastering campaigns under UNESCO guidance.

— informed by UNESCO: In Danger
— where
Yemen · Shibam, Hadhramaut
— position
15.9269° N · 48.6266° 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.
20 km E
Sayun
wadi town
35 km E
Tarim
scholarly wadi town
N
Shibam
Sayun
Tarim
— common questions

What people ask.

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

The phrase was applied by traveller Freya Stark in the 1930s. The walled city's compact block of five-to-eleven-storey mud-brick towers, packed shoulder to shoulder above the wadi floor, reads as a miniature skyline from the plain.

Most of the roughly five hundred tower houses date in their present form to the sixteenth century, raised after a 1532 flood destroyed much of the earlier town on the same walled footprint.

Unfired mud brick on stone foundations, plastered with a mud-and-lime wash. Wood lintels and beams are typically tamarisk or imported teak. The exterior is replastered every few years against seasonal rains.

UNESCO inscribed the walled city in 1982 as one of the oldest examples of vertical urban planning. It was added to the World Heritage in Danger list in 2015 because of the war in Yemen.

Shibam sits above the Wadi Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen's Hadhramaut Governorate, about 480 kilometres east of Sana'a. Sayun and Tarim are the larger neighbouring towns on the same wadi system.

— about the piece in your home

It has been. The Hadhrami diaspora is wide, from East Africa to Indonesia, and Shibam is the image many carry of home. The Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well.

The clay and gold tones suit a warm Mediterranean-modern room, a jewel-tone maximalist wall, or a transitional study with travertine and dark wood. The piece reads as silhouette and texture rather than landscape.

A Large carries a sofa wall on its own. For a longer room a four-tile Mural extends the skyline horizontally. Above a console the Medium sits well; a Small works in a hallway or den.

Yes. Choose Dura Satin or Matte for damp or splash-prone walls. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure and the finish wipes clean.

A soft microfibre cloth and clear water. Skip ammonia and abrasive sprays. The piece is hand-finished in the Knoxville studio and the surface keeps its sheen with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to the single Knoxville studio, curated by Reid Wender. The work is not licensed from outside artists and is hand-finished in-house.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.