LAUNCHING T-REX LEATHER™
INTRODUCING THE WORLD'S FIRST DINOSAUR LUXURY MATERIAL TO THE WORLD
WHERE INNOVATION MEETS NATURAL HISTORY, ART AND AVANT-GARDE FASHION
When VML creative pioneers Bas Korsten and Dimitri Guerassimov set out to introduce T-Rex Leather™, they knew the opportunity had to extend far beyond the lab. The science was extraordinary, but even extraordinary innovations need more than a breakthrough. They need to become something people can see, experience and talk about. And that experience needs the right stage.
Working alongside biotechnology pioneers Lab-Grown Leather Ltd., The Organoid Company, avant-garde designer Michal Hadas and his label Enfin Levé, Amsterdam's Art Zoo Museum, and communications teams across VML, Propellor and For The Right Reasons, the ambition was bigger than launching a new material.
It was to create a world-first experience that brought together innovation, natural history, contemporary art and avant-garde fashion in a way that had never been seen before.
Because lab-grown materials rarely escape science and sustainability circles, the team knew the story needed to become something people could see, experience and talk about. And so, beneath a towering Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton at Amsterdam's Art Zoo Museum, prehistoric history met cutting-edge innovation. More than a venue, the museum became the stage for an entirely new collision of worlds.
Together, we developed the event concept, launch narrative and media strategy to transform a complex scientific breakthrough into a cultural story capable of travelling across science, design, luxury and mainstream media.
Using earned media and an idea 66 million years in the making, we helped turn an emerging biotechnology innovation into a global conversation.
Where Ancient Biology Meets Avant-Garde Fashion
At the heart of the project was an equally extraordinary scientific breakthrough.
Using collagen fragments originally identified in Tyrannosaurus rex fossil remains, scientists at The Organoid Company and Lab-Grown Leather Ltd. combined AI modelling, genome engineering and tissue engineering to reconstruct protein sequences inspired by the extinct predator. The result was T-Rex Leather™ — a novel biomaterial created without harming a single animal. The breakthrough pointed towards entirely new possibilities for luxury materials at a time when fashion is actively searching for more sustainable alternatives.
But the ambition was never simply to create another leather substitute.
As Bas Korsten explained:
"The stark reality is that lab-grown leather hasn't yet convinced the luxury world. Why? Because it feels like an imitation. We knew we had to do something radically different. Not a substitute, but something entirely new."
To bring that vision into culture, VML partnered with avant-garde label Enfin Levé. Rather than imposing traditional luxury codes, Hadas approached the project as a material exploration, allowing the behaviour of T-Rex Leather™ itself to shape the design.
The result was a sharply structured, one-of-a-kind crossbody bag — the world's first design object created from T-Rex Leather™. Sitting somewhere between technical gear and collectible object, the piece combined the prehistoric biomaterial with Swiss EtaProof cotton, handmade sterling silver hardware by silversmith Michal Danny Nowak and jewellery-grade detailing inspired by DNA sequences and geological forms. Precise, minimal and quietly radical, the bag treated prehistoric biology itself as a design material.
Unveiled beneath the towering Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton at Art Zoo Museum, the final piece became far more than a handbag. It became a collision of timelines: prehistoric biology and advanced biotechnology, natural history and contemporary art, luxury craftsmanship and experimental design. A world first that transformed an impossible scientific idea into something tangible and unforgettable.
The response was immediate.
Following the unveiling, the project generated 549 pieces of coverage and 4.63 billion media impressions, with Reuters helping the story travel across science, technology, luxury, sustainability and mainstream media worldwide. The story was picked up by news broadcasters and talk shows around the world, including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Beyond media attention, T-Rex Leather™ sparked ten commercial enquiries and helped drive a 279% increase in Lab-Grown Leather Ltd.'s share price.
More importantly, T-Rex Leather™ demonstrated how an ambitious scientific breakthrough can capture public imagination.
A Story 66 Million Years In The Making
Watch the whole story here
