ALLELES Design Studio

Victoria, British Columbia

McCauley Wanner & Ryan Palibroda, Red High Gloss SOLO Prosthetic Cover, July 2020, ABS Plastic and Automotive Paint, Approximate 16 inches tall by 4 inches wide. Courtesy of The ALLELES Design Studio Ltd.

McCauley Wanner & Ryan Palibroda, Army Green Gold People Cover & Black Two-Tone Cover, July 2019, ABS Plastic and Automotive Paint, Approximate 16 inches tall by 4 inches wide. Courtesy of Eric Chu Photography

McCauley Wanner & Ryan Palibroda, Vapourwave Capsule Collection, July 2019, ABS Plastic and Automotive Paint and reclaimed sailboat sails for the clothing, Approximate 16 inches tall by 4 inches wide. Courtesy of The ALLELES Design Studio Ltd.

McCauley Wanner & Ryan Palibroda, Cream Nouveau Colorway, January 2018, ABS Plastic and Automotive Paint, Approximate 16 inches tall by 4 inches wide. Courtesy of The ALLELES Design Studio Ltd.

McCauley Wanner & Ryan Palibroda, Studio photo featuring wall of prosthetic covers, September 2017, ABS Plastic and Automotive Paint, Approximate 16 inches tall by 4 inches wide. Courtesy of The ALLELES Design Studio Ltd.

McCauley Wanner & Ryan Palibroda, Racecar Yellow Deep Eyes Prosthetic Cover, July 2018, ABS Plastic and Automotive Paint, Approximate 16 inches tall by 4 inches wide. Courtesy of The ALLELES Design Studio Ltd.

ALLELES Design Studio was founded by McCauley Wanner and Ryan Palibroda, who were astonished by the lack of design options for prosthetic wearers. After witnessing the backlash in showing conceptual products that people wanted but were unable to purchase, they chose a more pragmatic approach, and shifted towards producing viable options for people. ALLELES describes their design process as “mass customization” — technical, iterative, and with an element of fun. 

Innovative in their design approach, ALLELES delivers a highly customized product that can accommodate a wide variety of prostheses, body sizes, design options and colour variety, all to allow people to express their individuality. ALLELES believes there is a design opportunity in everything and uses their skillset to solve problems that often remain unexplored.

“A lot of times what people don’t realize is that it is up to us as designers to think about how our skills can be used to solve, address or add value to problems, industries or products that others may overlook. We need more designers to look critically at where their skillset can offer value and go for it. If something is not user-friendly, that is an opportunity to make it better.”

ALLELES
w: alleles.ca
ig: @alleles
fb: @allelesdesign

This article was published in the Fall/Winter 2020 issue of Studio Magazine.