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114 Jason — 50 years of leading by design
THE ROUND MAT
The round mat, produced originally
by tablemat companies in the
nineteenth century, was reintroduced
by Jason in the 1980s. Offering
a point of difference from the
traditional rectangle mat, and
featuring artwork from the Designer
Collection series, interest in the round
tablemats mushroomed. Following
their launch under the banner of
the Jason Designer Collection in 1983,
by the mid-1980s nearly a third of
all Jason mats (37 designs) were
round. Best-sellers such as Tuliptime
and Iristime were released both on a
white as well as a black background.
Also produced were the classic
Redouté Roses, New Zealand Birds,
and New Zealand Wildflowers, along
with designs created especially for
the round product. This included
the refined Chatswood, Sweet Pea,
and Waterlily. By the late 1990s,
interest in the round tablemats had
tempered to around 10 per cent of
the collection, but round mats offered
a distinctive edge and took newgeneration
designs such as Sea Bounty
by New Zealand artist Margaret Scott
particularly well.
Sales and Distribution 115
THIS PAGE (clockwise from top): New
Zealand Birds; Opus; Fairies; Blue
Magpie; and Tuliptime on White.
OPPOSITE PAGE: Sea Bounty (left),
Poppies by the Sea (top), and Pacifica
(right).