Althea Hardboard Cork Placemat

A Garden in Full Flutter — Brought to the Table

Step outside — well, almost. The Althea hardboard placemat brings the dreamy calm of a cottage garden to your tabletop with a beautifully detailed botanical print that feels less like a placemat and more like a watercolor you accidentally ate breakfast on (in the best possible way). Against a soft cream background, an airy tangle of ferns, delicate leaf sprays, and wispy flowering botanicals unfolds in soothing fern greens and sage, while golden-orange butterflies and gossamer dragonflies drift through the scene as though they've just stopped in to admire the centerpiece.

The botanical illustration tradition that inspired designs like this one stretches back centuries — to the great plant hunters and scientific illustrators of the 17th and 18th centuries who documented newly discovered flora with painstaking artistry. Artists like Maria Sibylla Merian, who published her landmark study of Surinamese insects and plants in 1705, helped establish a visual language for depicting the natural world that married scientific precision with genuine beauty. The Althea's ferns and fluttering insects are very much heirs to that tradition — a little corner of natural history, right there next to the salt and pepper shakers.

The rigid MDF core keeps everything flat and dinner-party-ready, while the 1/8" cork backing grips the table surface and protects it from heat. Wipe-clean and endlessly reusable, this placemat works just as hard as it looks good — which is saying something.

• Materials: MDF hardboard core, coated paper print surface, 1/8 in. (3 mm) cork backing
• Dimensions: 13 in. x 16 in. (33 cm x 40.6 cm)
• Color & Design: Cream/white background; fern green, sage, and soft grey-green botanical foliage — ferns, delicate branching sprays, and wispy florals; golden-orange butterflies and dragonfly accents throughout
• Construction: Rigid hardboard with wipe-clean coated surface; cork backing for non-slip grip and heat protection
• Care: Wipe clean with damp cloth; not dishwasher safe