A Placemat, Built Like a Charger

How It Is Built

Underneath every MI RE LA placemat is a rigid disc, 3mm of PVC cut to a perfect circle. This is the skeleton. It gives the placemat its shape, its flat surface, its defined edge, and the stability that lets it hold a full place setting without shifting or curling.

Over that disc, we stretch a top of resin-coated linen, designed, cut, sewn, and embroidered in Italy. The linen wraps the face and the edge of the disc, then gathers underneath, where an elastic band holds it taut. The logic is closer to upholstery than to table textiles: a firm form, dressed in fabric, tensioned from below.

Nothing is glued. Nothing is sewn to the disc. The linen holds its position because it was cut to hold it, and the elastic does the rest.

That rigid core is also what lets one piece play two roles. Flat, defined at the edge, and stable under a plate, it behaves the way a charger does at a composed table, while still working as an everyday placemat the rest of the week. We wrote a full guide on when to use a charger, a placemat, or one piece for both; this is the object that guide keeps pointing back to.

Why the Top Comes Off

Because nothing is glued or stitched down, the linen top can be removed in a few seconds. Turn the placemat over, ease the elastic edge off the disc, and the two parts separate cleanly. Fitting it back on takes about as long: center the linen on the disc, work the elastic around the underside, smooth the face with your hand.

This has two consequences, one practical and one that is more about pleasure.

The practical one is care. A placemat that comes apart can be cleaned properly, top and base each in the way that suits it, without compromise. More on that below.

The other is that the disc stops being tied to a single look. The same base can wear the coral of Collezione Toscana one season and the jellyfish of Collezione Amalfi the next. When you change the linen, you change the table. The skeleton stays; the character moves.

How to Care for It

For everyday life, the routine is simple: wipe the surface promptly with a damp cloth. The resin coating on the linen is there to resist stains and moisture, and it does its job best when spills are dealt with soon rather than left to settle. The placemat as a whole, with the disc inside, should never go in a washing machine or be submerged.

Every so often, though, a table lives hard — a long dinner, a full season of use — and the top deserves more than a wipe. This is where the construction earns its keep. Slip the linen off the disc, and it can be washed on its own, gently.

Treat the machine wash as the exception, not the routine. The damp cloth handles daily life; the gentle wash is for the moments that ask for a true reset.

A New Top for the Same Disc

The removable top opens one more possibility, and it is the one our clients ask about most: the linen can be replaced on its own.

If you would like a different motif for a disc you already own, or a fresh top after years of good service, you can request replacement linen tops in any motif from our current collections. These requests travel with our production orders from Italy, so there is a wait involved. We think of it as the rhythm of things made properly: each top is cut, sewn, and embroidered by the same hands that made the original.

For something that does not exist yet — a custom embroidery, a color outside our collections — we offer a bespoke service for orders of 25 pieces or more. It is a popular route for weddings, boutique hotels, and private clients building a table entirely their own.

Frequently Asked Questions