A Canadian couple quit their jobs, sold their cars, moved across the country and hunkered down for months to turn their pet project of affordable, designer prosthetic covers for amputees into reality, creating a product to fill a void in an industry dominated by medically oriented prosthetists.
The founders of the Alleles Design Studio, McCauley Wanner, 27, and Ryan Palibroda, 32, first dreamed of designing high-fashion prosthetic covers years ago. Wanner developed the idea for the Medicine Hat, Alta.-based business during her industrial design studies, when she realized amputees had few affordable options for creative cosmetic covers.