Oakywood Felt & Cork Desk Mat 2022 REVIEW

Unique desk mat keeps desk tidy and comfortable.

Extra large desk mats have been popular with PC gamers for many years. They use them to help increase the accuracy of their movements and while I’m not a PC gamer, I do appreciate how a desk mat helps to tidy up a workspace.

For a while now, I’ve used neoprene or other synthetic material-based mats. They are pretty typical for most workspaces and I hadn’t ever really considered a different material until I saw the Felt & Cork Desk Mat from Oakywood.

Felt & Cork Desk Mat Details

Felt and cork desk mats add a touch of elegance to any desk. They are also eco-friendly, as felt is made from recycled materials and cork is a renewable resource. Felt and cork matting is also easy to clean, as it can be wiped with a cloth or wet sponge. All of these reasons made my decision to switch over to Oakywood’s desk mat very easy.

Their Felt & Cork Desk Mat is made with premium natural materials including biodegradable, ecological cork, wool felt, and washpapa (“vegan leather”). It comes in two sizes – Medium (11.8” x 24.4”) or Large (11.8” x 35.4”). The desk mat is designed to protect the desk and at the same time be easy to clean and wear well over time.

Facts about Materials

• Merino Wool Felt is non-toxic, eco-friendly, and certified safe under OEKO-TEX® Standard 100
• Biodegradable cork is 100% natural and can be extracted without hurting the tree
• Washpapa – a washable sewing paper (“vegan leather”)

Care Instructions

• Water – remove water with a paper towel
• Spills (wine, food, oil) – wet the stain with water and light detergent. Wait 2-3 minutes, remove moisture, and repeat until the stain lightens
• Dust and dry stains – vacuum the mat occasionally

User Experience

Oakywood is a premium accessory designer that I’ve admired for quite some time and the Felt & Cork Desk Mat caught my eye because of the color choices. They offer two colorways – Anthracite and Grey.

Both options are exclusive-looking but the Anthracite is a dark, charcoal, or black shade while the Grey is lighter and more neutral. My desktop is white and most of my setup is white or black. I had a black desk mat for a while and really wanted something lighter. The Grey ended up being the perfect option for me. It is a nice contrast to the other elements in my workspace and it is light enough that it doesn’t make the space feel closed off or cluttered.

Of course, with getting such a light color I was concerned with how dirty it might get. I work at my computer every single day. Fortunately, there hasn’t been any noticeable dirt collection on the mat. I thought for sure there would likely be spots from where I rest my hands but the mat actually looks just as good as it did when it first arrived.

The desk mat was delivered rolled up in a tube. When I pulled it out, I was concerned that it might take a while for it to flatten out, but I was surprised to find that within about an hour, the corners were not curling up anymore. I did lay it flat on my desk and placed a couple of weighted objects on each corner to help the process along, but it was flat relatively quickly.

The next thing I noticed was that there were some loose strands from the wool felt collecting on the mat. If you have ever encountered one of these desk mats, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. The care instructions provided by Oakywood suggest using a vacuum, which I’m sure would work, but I also found a lint roller to tidy up the mat quite well.

After that initial sweep of the lint roller, I’ve just now (after two months of use) started noticing where some felt is loosening up again. I think that if you keep an eye on the condition of the felt and clean it up regularly, you won’t have constant lint balling up on your desk.

I can say that the claims about the material being easy to clean up are true. I had an unfortunate testing opportunity where a 7UP was knocked over on my desk. I was very fortunate that none of the electronics were in the path of the soda, but the desk mat took a direct hit.

I was actually able to shake the mat off outside and most of the liquid flew off of it. There was some that soaked into the cork, but the desk mat did its job and protected the desktop from any of the sticky residues that might have otherwise been collected.

Conclusion

Overall, I have been very happy with the Felt & Cork Desk Mat. It’s comfortable to use and it’s a nice change from the ‘standard’ neoprene desk mats that are popular. The material is soft on the hands and doesn’t get too hot when you rest your hands on it. It’s very durable and super easy to clean. I have found that the Large size is perfect for my 72-inch desktop and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a premium desk mat.

For more information, visit oakywood.shop, Facebook, and Twitter.