Did you know this about the placemat?

Placemats are increasingly present in daily life: smart versions of the tablecloth, their use is no longer limited to breakfast.

Functionality, convenience and comfort have prevailed.

The last-minute guest? The usual latecomer? Your son having a schedule all his own? When wine is spilt?

Changing a place at the table is not a problem: you can remove or add a cover easily and quickly, and that's it!

Home décor is strategic when it can improve the home, making it both functional and elegant.

In catering where customers share an extended table, Setting or clearing in a chic way for the next guest becomes simple and practical.

These practical placemats came from America where they originated in the 1950s during the economic boom.

This was the period when television made its debut in American homes, so dinnertime was spent in the living room, shifting the fulcrum of homes.

Without sitting at the table, the American family of the 1950s sat down in front of the TV.

It became common to dine on a sofa using the support of a tray, abandoning elegance and formal table-laying.

This is how the placemat was created.

In the course of these changes in society, people's needs also changed, including the need to invent a new way of eating in small spaces.

Tablecloths remain in the drawer because there was no longer a shared surface on which to lay them.

The opportunity to set small and separate spaces started the idea, and today the original placemat invention has proved so successful that it will endure even when the habit of eating on a tray while sitting on the sofa in front of the television has (fortunately) faded out.

Placemats become a manifesto of theacceleration of progress, innovation, the rhythms of everyday life change and at the same time the placemats become more and more necessary for the consumption of quick meals with the family, in couples or alone.

In Italy, the domestic use of placemats has been resisted, and they are often only linked to breakfast time. On the other hand, placemats for restaurants have found widespread consumption.

They arrived firstly in fast food restaurants.

Especially McDonald's, which consolidated the use of placemats so as not to dirty the tray. This is typical of fast food service: there are no waiters to set and clear the table, so the most efficient solution is a simple table setting.

Placemats are generally more reasonably priced than classic textile table linen.

More and more we also see designer placemats on the tables of chic restaurants, offering more modern and smart table setting.

Their practicality is also linked to easy storage: they take up very little space because they are thin and can be rolled up.

How to wash placemats? Washing up is a major saving too, especially in terms of time: placemats from 23Bassi Home can be machine washed and come back perfect without ironing.

Convenience combined with comfort, practicality and time-saving always wins!