It appears that Jim Williams wasn't a big fan of anti-static mats.

[G0HZU]

I've seen that first image of Jim's bench a few times now.

I'll dare to make a few comments...

He doesn't have a megadigit bench DMM anywhere in sight and the items that look like DMMs seem to be stacked on top of power supplies (that act as a heat source).

So it does make you wonder why so many newbies on this forum seem to think they 'need' a super accurate/stable megadigit DMM. Maybe they are doing stuff that is at a higher level than Jim?

Also, I think a couple of low level shelves would have helped a lot. Also a deeper bench. I also suspect that the photo was taken at 'peak/critical mess' during a particularly busy time.

I am definitely a fan of ESD mats but this is mainly because a good one will act as a nice grippy and pliable surface to work on that is fairly tolerant of abuse from a soldering iron. I really like the old sky blue ones from Farnell. I suspect that these are now obsolete but they are really nice to work on and I also like the colour. Many years ago I used to just work on a wooden bench but because wood is relatively hard and smooth it's really easy for stuff to bounce and slide off the desk if mishandled.

[AF6LJ]

I have one of those sky blue mats, and I love it.

[G0HZU]

I have one of those sky blue mats, and I love it.

I tried to buy another one a few years ago but ended up going for a couple green mats made by Multicomp. I use these as a work surface on a couple of desks. They stank of rubber so badly I had to put them in with the boiler to try and age the smell out of them. It took several months before I could have them in my workroom.

Modern mats probably work a lot better as ESD mats but they feel cold and clammy compared to those old sky blue mats. I still have a sky blue one on my main workbench but it's covered in battle scars. Mostly inflicted with soldering irons, heat guns and scalpels

[AF6LJ]

I got my mat from a friend who had a half dozen two meter mats rolled up in his garage.
Already aged and a little 409 and some elbow grease took the garage smell out of it.

[AF6LJ]

As a side note, my favorite work surface, static free Indoor/Outdoor carpet on a metal desk.
Dark Green is the preferred color.

[G0HZU]

I like the sky blue colour for several reasons.

I find the colour to be welcoming and soothing. It also looks good as a background colour against typical RF based stuff. eg gold, copper and silver (and also those little wooden boxes full of RF goodies) look really good to me when set against a sky blue background. It does show the muck easily though.

By contrast, I find the darker and more intense colours used in modern mats to be either too gloomy or too harsh on the eyes.

[basinstreetdesign]

I have a blue one and I love it.  But its there not for what I know would happen if I had carpet on the floor but for what I cant predict like forgetting I was wearing the wrong sweater on a dry day before plopping into the chair at the bench.

I also use grounded soldering irons but will unplug it from the station if I need to change a connection on a powered-up rig especially if it takes some time to cycle the power on it.

[AF6LJ]

I have a blue one and I love it.  But its there not for what I know would happen if I had carpet on the floor but for what I cant predict like forgetting I was wearing the wrong sweater on a dry day before plopping into the chair at the bench.

I also use grounded soldering irons but will unplug it from the station if I need to change a connection on a powered-up rig especially if it takes some time to cycle the power on it.

I like that, it looks really nice.

[Seekonk]

Many years ago I remember talking with thr president of a fairly well known company and he said he never had problems with static until he implemented anti static procedures.