Luxury Bag Dinosaur Collagen: This teal bag is currently on display at the Art Zoo Museum in Amsterdam. The bag is placed on a rock and features a replica of a T. rex on top.

Dinosaur leather bag auctioned

Luxury Bag Dinosaur Collagen: Scientists and designers have recently unveiled a unique bag made from leather derived from proteins obtained from the fossilized remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex). The teal bag is currently on display at the Amsterdam Art Zoo Museum. The bag is placed on a rock and is topped with a replica of the T. rex. The exhibition will run until May 11th. Afterward, the bag will go up for auction, with a starting price of over half a million dollars.

How was the bag made?

According to the team, the leather used in this bag was not directly derived from dinosaurs, but rather from fragmented collagen of ancient proteins. To do this, small pieces of protein were first extracted from T. rex fossils. These fragments were then inserted into the cells of an unknown animal to create new collagen. Finally, this collagen was processed and transformed into leather. This process posed several technical challenges, but the team says they made it possible.

Who prepared this project?

The project is a collaboration between three companies: The Organoid Company, a genomic engineering company; VML, a creative agency; and Lab Grown Leather Ltd., a lab-grown leather company. The companies previously created a giant meatball in 2023, combining woolly mammoth DNA with sheep cells.