Modern Meadow wants to offer tanners alternative raw material
30/06/2016
New York-based Modern Meadow said in May that it plans to double its workforce of 30 people between now and this time next year. It also said it was at the point of scaling out of research and development into manufacturing, that it would begin pilot production projects in the near future and have a commercial product on the market in less than ten years. It will use the new funding it has secured to achieve these aims.
According to founder, Andras Forgacs, Modern Meadow is able to harness the combined power of design, biology and engineering “to change the way we think about materials, unlocking the capabilities of nature”. He has explained that “biofabrication” means using collagen protein and “other essential building blocks” found in animal skin to “recreate aspects of traditional leather, including suppleness and breathability”
At the same time, he has said his company will be able to endow its material with “properties not possible from animal hide”, such as improved strength-to-weight ratio and controlled elasticity. It will also be able tailor the amount of material it produces for each order to reduce waste; the leather will come in the size, shape and quantity required.
Speaking to World Leather after the funding announcement, Mr Forgacs explained: “We assemble the collagen ourselves and we have control over its structure. We can assemble it in a way that allows us to be innovative throughout the broad performance space of the material, not just on the surface.”
He said Modern Meadow is not looking to displace the tanning industry, which he described as “a tremendous recycling industry”. He said that what his company wants to do is “create a viable alternative raw material for best-in-class tanners to use”.
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