Modern Twist’s silicone place mats are art<br> -- and doodle pad -- for the table

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The silicone revolution that turned muffin tins and oven mitts rubbery has found a place at the table. The San Francisco firm Modern Twist uses food-grade silicone to create place mats that can handle a hot plate but should not be used as a trivet -- or, for that matter, a cookie sheet. The translucent material lets users see through patterns to the tabletop below.

At $18 a pop, I’d go for something a little more Pop -- one of the company’s kids designs, which include Kat in the City, above.

Referencing mid-century illustration style (and achieving a high cute quotient), the design is from the portfolio of Portland, Ore.-based painter and Etsy printmaker Matte Stephens. Stephens also created the more folkloric, woodcut-influenced olive green Owl and orange Monster designs, shown at left with the Kat mat.

The 16-by-14-inch crease-proof place mats, which can be rolled up to put in a picnic hamper, are available at Yolk in Silver Lake. Online, the store also offers one of Modern Twist’s seven kids’ place mat designs called Hide and Seek.

‘Since they are silicone, you can let kids draw on them with water-based markers and it rinses right off,’ says Yolk’s owner Maria Neuman.

-- David A. Keeps

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