Modern Meadow
Biofabricated materials company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Modern Meadow is an American biotechnology company that uses biofabrication to create sustainable materials. The company was co-founded by Andras Forgacs, Gabor Forgacs, Karoly Jakab and Francoise Marga in 2011, and is based in Nutley, New Jersey.[2][3]
Gabor Forgacs
Karoly Jakab
Francoise Marga
 | |
| Industry | Biotechnology |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founders | Andras Forgacs Gabor Forgacs Karoly Jakab Francoise Marga |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | David Williamson (CEO)[1] |
| Website | modernmeadow |
History
In 2011, Andras Forgacs and his father Gabor Forgacs, Jakab, and Marga co-founded Modern Meadow.[2] The company’s initial goal was to create leather and meat in tissue cultures, without using live animals.[4]
In 2018, Modern Meadow partnered with Evonik to commercially produce biofabricated materials.[5][3]
Modern Meadow entered into a joint venture in 2021 with Limonta, an Italian textiles and materials company, to create BioFabric. The new company creates sustainable materials through a process called biofabrication.[6]
In 2017, it was announced that Modern Meadow had plans to develop the “world’s first biofabricated leather”. The company displayed a prototype T-shirt made from the material at the Museum of Modern Art in an exhibit, “Items: Is Fashion Modern,” until 2018.[4] In 2022, Catherine Roggero-Lovisi became the company’s CEO.[7]
In 2023, the company received the EPA Green Chemistry award for the development of a dyeing technology that uses a mixture of plant-based proteins and biopolymers.[8]
David Williamson was appointed CEO in 2024.[1]
Technology
The company makes plant-based protein biopolymers to create a variety of textiles. It combines plant-based proteins with bio-based polyurethane. The resulting polymer blend is called Bio-Alloy.[9][10][3]
Bio-Alloy is used to create plant-based leather alternatives including Bio-Tex, which the company developed for the American fashion brand Tory Burch;[11] as well as Bio-VERA, a blend of biomaterial and synthetic polymer substrate[12] made for use in transportation, wall coverings, and interior design.[13]