‘It’s just a huge mouse pad, there’s no reason to spend big on it’ was my thinking back when I switched from a regular-sized mouse pad to the larger desk mat around three years ago. It was a no-frills desk mat that measured 30 cm x 60 cm, plain black, with a neon green stitched border.

With the daily use compounded by excessively sweaty palms, it needed cleaning every three months or so until around the last six months or more before we moved out of the city, I had completely neglected to do so. The result was that the edge closest to me where my arms usually rested had become brittle and even melted onto my desk. No doubt, it needed to be replaced.

This time around, I decided to spend way more and get a durable desk mat. This led me to the Macveth Artisan Deskmat. They had a lot of great reviews, a sign that this was no ordinary desk mat.

While their best-sellers had cool designs inspired by popular Japanese iconography and Greek mythology, I went for a minimalist aesthetic with the GENKKI Black, a stylized swirls of gray clouds on a deep black background that I got for P428 (~ USD 7)

From the packaging, and card inserts with cleaning instructions to the desk mat itself, this was a genuinely premium product. Best of all, it came in my preferred 30 cm x 60 cm size!

The working surface allows my mouse to smoothly glide over it yet there’s still enough friction to keep it under full control, the underside had plenty of grip to keep it firmly in place on my desk. Overall, the construction and materials used show that with the proper care, this desk mat would give me plenty of mileage.

So if you’re on the hunt for a premium desk mat to complete your gaming setup, take a look at Macveth Artisan Deskmat’s online stores on Lazada and Shopee – which also offers keycaps for custom mechanical keyboards, or hit up their website if you’re outside of the Philippines, you’d find one that suits your preferences.