A writing surface, not a mat. The construction is a 3 mm compressed wool felt face bonded to a 2 mm vegetable-tanned hide base and saddle-stitched around all four edges with a waxed linen thread. The felt gives a page the slight compliance a nib needs — writing on glass or bare wood makes a hard nib feel harder and a soft nib feel dead — and the hide keeps the whole thing flat and stops it creeping.
600 by 400 mm covers an A3 opening or an A4 book with room for a pen and a blotter beside it. It weighs 1.3 kg, which is enough that it stays put.
The felt is charcoal and will take ink; that is unavoidable and it is why the face is felt rather than leather, because a stained felt reads as used and a stained leather reads as ruined. The hide edge will darken along the front where a forearm rests. Both of those are the pad working.
