Give me a lever and I shall move the Earth, said Archimedes. Let’s spot collagen, the main protein of the animal connective tissue, and we shall grow in-vitro whatever kind of bio-leather, reply today Modern Meadow. Lineapelle94 housed the first European public presentation of the Zoa project, focused on bio-material, that US Modern Meadow are currently developing. “Our research team consists of designers, biologists and engineers – cleared up while addressing the audience Susan Schofer, vice-president of the US start-up company -. We have implemented a method to bio-create sheets of material composed of collagen whose DNA is designed to provide the same material with the required properties. The material can be tanned according to current processes, but it also goes beyond natural leather applications”. Modern Meadow participated in the exhibition, held at New York MOMA, named “Items: is fashion market?” and opened, for three weeks, a pop-up store, in the Big Apple, to advertise themselves before the big public. Their team liaises with various brands to address research and meet the fashion industry needs. “We’ll be able to manufacture whichever kind of leather starting from DNA, even though our major aim is not to make something similar to leather, but rather develop new solutions, in order to free the tanning industry from the instability of the raw material market”, adds Schofer. The audience asked: “When are we going to see the first application on industrial scale?”. “We still need a few years – wrapped up the manager – since the potential of the project is great indeed”.
