TEXTILES.ORG
Enfin Levé, a techwear brand, debuted a handbag made from leather and collagen lab-grown from fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex bone fragments. The bag was on display at the Art Zoo Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, next to a cast of a T. rex specimen from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center.
Because the original protein recovered from the fossils was incomplete, scientists at The Organoid Company used computational biology and artificial intelligence modeling to fill in the gaps. Once the synthesized collagen was complete, it was inserted into a carrier cell line, and the cells were cultivated at scale using the Advanced Tissue Engineering Platform developed by Lab-Grown Leather Ltd. The finished material is biodegradable and repairable, according to The Organoid Company. The material was then sent to Enfin Levé for design and fabrication. It’s paired with EtaProof cotton, originally engineered for British pilot immersion suits during World War II.
The handbag was designed by Michal Hadas, founder of Enfin Levé. The accessory was on display at the museum from April 2–May 11. It failed to sell at its auction in June when bids came in below the expected €300,000–€500,000 ($348,000–$580,000).