Mac’s mats

Mac and mats

This weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting Mac, a very engaging twelve year old running a thriving business distributing rope door mats. Now, these are not your run-of-the-mill door mats that you wipe the mud off your shoes without a second thought.  Nor are they the large box store variety with dubious phrases written on them (e.g., “Wipe your Paws”). These mats are a feast for the eye and, as each one is different, a one-of-a-kind work of art.

And the mats are good for the environment. The doormats are woven from old rope no longer used by fisherman because of new rules requiring that lines sink, not float, in order to protect the Northern Right Whale. Mac tells me that she can tell the difference in the individual weavers from looking at the designs. The weavers’ personalities come out in their color combinations.

About a year and half ago, Mac was at a Lobster Festival in Maine and saw the mats. After an hour long conversation with David Carter about his mats, she gave him her contact information. The next day he called and Mac now has 18 vendors in four states and has sold 2,500 mats. She recently was a guest speaker at the local Rotary Club. Do I need to remind you that this dynamo is twelve years old?

As readers of this blog are aware, the front yard at Howlets was dug up in order to sink a new septic system. The resulting dirt and, when it rains, mud is constantly tracked into the house in clods.  Unusual, practical and beautiful door mats for all the exterior doors (of which there are six) were desperately needed.  The usual ho-hum choices kept rearing their ugly heads. Like the first flower in the spring which the eye so badly craves, Mac’s mats popped into view. The search for the perfect mats was abruptly ended.

Art work on a sea of stone

Mac and her mother Marcy were gracious enough to invite me over to take a look at the wide array they have in an outbuilding on their property. As the top mats were peeled back again and again to reveal ever more choices, I was reminded of buying an oriental rug in Morocco. The mats for Howlets need to be on the quieter side, as the house does all the talking, and of a hue that mirror the sea and surrounding stone. Mac helped me pull together a series of six mats that all complement each other and take the stone house, its setting and the sea into account. Think of the darker watery backgrounds in Monet’s water lily paintings, translated into a door mat.

As Mac put it so perfectly, “I like old stuff made into new stuff.”  In addition to being 100% recycled, where else can you find absolute form and function in one item all for $35.00? Mac’s mats are available on Cape Ann at:  Cape Ann Marina, Toodeloos, Willow Rest,  The Emerson Inn, Utopia and Vidalia’s. For more information on Mac and her mats, check out  www.macsmats.com.

Click on any photo to enlarge.