The Patent Nobody Could Use

Professor Bernt Walther at the University of Bergen, Norway, made a groundbreaking discovery while studying salmon biology. He identified and patented the enzyme that baby salmon release at the moment of hatching, an enzyme that dissolves only the eggshell while leaving the delicate skin of the salmon fry completely intact. He named it Aquabeautine XL® and recognized its potential for skincare applications. But there was a critical problem: the enzyme was a living protein that would denature (essentially die) under traditional cosmetic formulation conditions. For the next twelve years, scientists couldn't figure out how to stabilize it in a product.

Forty-Eight Trips to Oslo

Patti Pao, founder of beauty consultancy The Pao Principle, found herself traveling to Oslo, Norway, repeatedly for various client projects. Between 2008 and 2010, she made the journey 48 times—so frequently that she joked she never saw anything beyond office buildings and airports. Her Norwegian clients, who were avid outdoors enthusiasts, insisted she experience the natural beauty of Western Norway. There was just one problem: Patti, a self-described "New Yorker who went to Central Park five times in thirty years," had zero interest in hiking through the mountains with her clients who hiked like Vikings every weekend.

The Hatchery That Changed Everything

During a drive to what would have been a grueling hike in Bergen, Patti spotted buildings along a fjord and asked what they were. Her clients explained it was Lygrespollen, one of Norway's most famous salmon hatcheries, renowned for practicing "synchronized hatching", a technique where 200,000 salmon eggs hatch at exactly the same time. Seeing her opportunity to avoid the hike, Patti immediately insisted on touring the facility. What was meant to be a convenient escape became the most significant moment of her 40-year beauty career. During the tour, she observed workers with their hands constantly submerged in post-hatching water, removing unhatched eggs and eggshells. The skin on their hands looked remarkably younger and healthier than the skin on their faces, and when she asked why, she learned about the enzyme.

Solving the Twelve-Year Problem

When Patti learned that this revolutionary enzyme had been sitting unused since 1998 because no one could formulate with it, she made an offer that seemed almost naive: "I have a lab. If you send me a kilo of the ingredient, I can try." The Norwegian ingredient company was skeptical. Who was this American consultant who thought she could solve what their scientists couldn't? But Patti had something they didn't: decades of hands-on product development experience, including work commercializing glycolic acid at Avon. Her lab spent an entire year developing a proprietary emulsion system that could keep the enzyme in its active, three-dimensional folded state throughout manufacturing, packaging, and shelf life. In 2011, they cracked the code. Restorsea became the first company in the world to successfully formulate with this living enzyme.

The Ten-Million-Dollar Bet

To move forward, Restorsea needed exclusive rights to Aquabeautine XL®. The Norwegian ingredient company required a $10 million dollar upfront payment to secure a 20-year worldwide licensing agreement. Patti's business partner and co-founder, a Harvard classmate who believed in both the science and Patti's vision, wired the full amount in 72 hours without contracts or legal protection. It was pure trust and conviction in what this enzyme could do. This investment would later fund not just the licensing rights, but also the extensive patent portfolio and clinical studies that would establish Restorsea as a scientifically credible brand. To this day, Patti calls their eye cream "the $10 million dollar eye cream" because of what it took to make it possible.

From Lab Samples to Luxury Retail

With her formulations perfected, Patti did something unconventional: she took lab samples housed in unmarked containers with simple Word document labels directly to Bergdorf Goodman. She didn't have packaging. She didn't have marketing materials. What she had was a revolutionary ingredient, clinical-grade formulations, and a 30-year track record in the beauty industry. The retailer committed to carrying Restorsea on the spot. The brand officially launched in 2012, making salmon hatching enzyme-based skincare accessible to consumers for the first time in history.