Real leather,
Reinvented
Leather is loved. Leather is luxury. Leather is everywhere. Unfortunately, making leather is also polluting, challenging and controversial. Qorium creates beautiful, premium and authentic leather without compromise.
Simply put, Qorium reinvents leather. Better product. Better planet.
Our vision
Qorium passionately pursues excellent materials without compromise. We relentlessly innovate to create a world where consumers get beautiful, genuine, and luxurious leather products without today’s necessary negative impacts. With our science, that world is achievable and provides the following incredible benefits:
Premium Leather
No other material offers the beauty, durability and character of leather. While other materials degrade and breakdown, leather improves and enriches over time. Nothing can compete with a beautiful leather jacket. Nothing can compete with a cozy leather couch. Nothing can compete with a killer pair of leather heels or a stunning luxury handbag. Nothing can compete with genuine leather and Qorium provides just that.
Sustainable
Qorium’s innovative manufacturing methods are the most efficient and sustainable available. Leveraging the incredible biology that Mother Nature provided, we replicate natural leather production in a precise, controlled environment and only build what is needed and nothing more. Dramatically reduced carbon emissions, no methane emissions, and little water and chemical usage.
less waste
Traditional leather manufacturing is reductive. Through multiple, intensive processes, a cow’s skin is turned into leather with a great deal of waste along the way. Our production method is radically different. Starting from microscopic cells, we build only what is needed and use the minimum inputs required to do so.
Animal friendly
No cows are harmed in the making of Qorium’s leather. Yes, it is that simple.
Consistent quality
Cow-derived leather is inherently inconsistent. Each cow is unique. Its hide varies in terms of thickness and quality, and its hide acquires blemishes and defects throughout the cow’s life. This can result in as much as 75% material wastage. Qorium’s leather is consistent, reliable, uniform and beautiful. Grown in identical sheets, manufacturing losses are minimal.
Tunable
As our science advances, we envision a world where Qorium leather is highly tunable to the specific application desired. Imagine a day when the core leather properties can be defined and delivered to exacting product specifications.
The Process
Qorium’s process and supporting technology is innovative and cutting edge. It is protected by a robust intellectual property portfolio. Its beauty, however, is remarkably simple in concept; a true testament to the magic of leveraging natural biologic approaches.
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The Best Cow
We scour the globe for cows with the most desirable hides. Hides that lead to the most luxurious, durable and versatile leather. Once found, we harmlessly biopsy cells from our donor cow and take the cells back to our laboratory.
Grow Cells
These selected cells are then replicated and prepared to do what they do best – make collagen. Beyond the cells themselves, no animal products are used in this process.
Grow Collagen
In our proprietary equipment, process and medium, our cells build precise, uniform collagen sheets. Again, beyond the lab-grown cells themselves, no animal products are used in this process.
Create Leather
Qorium partners with the best tanneries and global brands to turn our collagen into beautiful leather. Our product seamlessly integrates into the existing leather production process, which enables utilization across the full leather goods industry.
News
DR. MARK POST FEATURED ON BBC WORLD
Apr 8, 2024: Qorium Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Mark Post, is featured on BBC World to discuss the incredible potential for cell cultured products
Qorium: “Our Product Creates Consistent, Beautiful, and Easily Workable Leather”
Mar 25, 2024: Vegconomist and Cultivated-X feature Qorium's cultivated leather, which provides an ethical and sustainable alternative to animal leather with no compromises on performance
Leather, Meat and Qorium's Bid to Cultivate Change in Fashion
Feb 22, 2024: FutureVVorld features Qorium and highlights the company's potential to revolutionize the fashion industry and leather goods markets overall
Sofinnova Partners Releases Its 2023 Impact Report
Feb 6, 2024: Sofinnova Partners, a Qorium investor, released its powerful 2023 Industrial Biotech Impact Report. It clearly demonstrates the power of Sofinnova's portfolio to make the world a better place. Qorium is not featured this year as we're too new to Sofinnova's portfolio. We are looking forward to being included next year. Qorium is thrilled to be a part of such an impressive and impactful group of businesses
New Funding & New CEO
Jan 10, 2024: Qorium lands additional funds from Brightlands Venture Partners and Sofinnova Partners, as the company sets out on an ambitious growth drive for sustainable leather, with the appointment of CEO Michael Newton
Our team
Qorium’s team relentlessly innovates in pursuit of a better world.
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Vincenza Caolo, PhD
Vincenza is a passionate cell biologist with the strong conviction that biotechnology can address global problems, especially climate change. A Senior Scientist at Qorium, Vincenza leads an excellent team of dedicated scientists creating and optimizing the processes and the technology to create cultured leather. Vincenza's work serves as the foundation for industrial production of animal-free, low-impact lab-grown leather.
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Ralf Fehrenbach
Convinced about the positive benefits of biotechnology to people and society, Ralf has worked for decades developing and manufacturing biopharma products that have improved the health of many. He joined Qorium seeking to leverage his experience to improve the environmental footprint of the leather industry. For Ralf, Qorium is a unique opportunity to contribute to a more sustainable, better world.
Michael Newton
Passionate about sustainability, Michael leads Qorium with the conviction that only through great products can we achieve our environmental goals. A former Nike executive, Michael has led numerous initiatives and teams harnessing cutting-edge technology and innovation to deliver world-class, sustainable products without compromise. For him, Qorium is an opportunity to do that on an unmatched scale with the best brands in the world.
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Rutger Ploem
A sixth-generation tanner, Rutger brings extensive experience in the leather industry and deep knowledge of the global leather market to Qorium. Loving leather but having seen the damaging impacts of traditional leather making, Rutger has been working for 30 years to bring beautiful, authentic leather to consumers while minimizing its downsides. Seeing the emergent power of cutting-edge biotechnology, Rutger contacted Professor Dr. Mark Post, who also recognized the enormous potential of cell cultured leather. Together, in partnership with Stef Kranendijk, they co-founded Qorium to revolutionize the industry.
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Mark Post, MD PhD
Mark is the scientist behind the world’s first cultured hamburger and is globally recognized as the leading voice on cellular agriculture. Trained as a medical doctor, Mark saw the incredible power of tissue engineering through work with vascular grafts. From that work, he became massively inspired by the possibility of improving the enormous global leather industry and co-founded Qorium to make that possibility a reality.
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Paul van Kooperen
Passion for the wonders of nature led Paul to study geology. While working as an engineer at Shell, Paul became intrigued with innovation and how it could help accelerate change, especially sustainable change. Since then, Paul has dedicated himself to financing technology-driven companies. Paul joined Qorium to help bring the unrivaled fine qualities of leather with an enormously improved ecological footprint to the world.
Join the team
We’re always seeking passionate, dedicated and diverse talent at Qorium.
See our job offersInvestors & partners
Qorium is fortunate to have excellent investors and partners committed to revolutionizing the leather industry.
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Contact us
Interested in working together? Committed to a similar mission? Want to help reinvent leather? Don’t hesitate to reach out.