Farmed meat pioneer Mark Post enters market with cultured leather: 'We're making meat without a cow, so the leather has to be different too'

In 2013, Mark Post presented the very first cultured meat burger to the world. But in addition to his work at Mosa Meat, he also holds a position at the lesser-known Qorium. The developer of "cultured leather" raised €22 million in funding last month.

Leather can be made from plastics, mushrooms and even pineapple leaves. Yet artificial leather has never overthrown the animal variety. 'The alternatives are simply not leathery enough,' said Mark Post, chief scientific officer of Qorium. 'That has to do with all sorts of aspects. How long it lasts, how it breathes, how well it can withstand moisture, et cetera.'

So biotech startup Qorium makes real leather. That's made from animal cells, but without having to slaughter an animal to make it. The idea came out of the hat of co-founder Rutger Ploem, who comes from a family of tanners and knew things had to be more sustainable. When he heard about Post's cultured meat, he knew there were opportunities for leather as well.

Those opportunities Post now sees. For him, it's simple: 'We make meat without a cow, so we have to obtain the leather differently, too.' Yet that's not the whole story, he says. While leather is a byproduct of meat, it is also a significant part of a cow's value. In other words, because we also use the cowhide, meat can be affordable(er). The leather industry thus sustains the meat industry.

Qorium's leather also allows the most polluting part of the tanning process to be skipped. Removing the hair and making hides suitable for leather production normally requires a lot of water as well as the use of chemicals. Moreover, a large part of the animal hides is thrown away. A cow is not shaped like a shoe.