When Ailbhe and Izzy Keane were kids, Ailbhe’s heart would break when she’d see her sister Izzy, who was born with spina bifida and paralyzed from the waist down, become discouraged. “Growing up she found it very frustrating and upsetting that there was nothing available for her to personalize her wheelchair,” Ailbhe remembers. “Her chair was the first thing that people noticed about her, but it wasn’t a [reflection] of her bright and bubbly personality.”
The inseparable Irish sisters would team up to decorate Izzy’s chair for myriad special occasions, projecting onto it the colors and bits of pizzazz that so aptly encompassed Izzy’s personality.
So it was a natural move for the two to found Izzy Wheels in 2016, a brand of stylish wheelchair covers that initially sparked as a final-year art project for Ailbhe when she was finishing her visual communications degree. Since then — under the mission statement “If you can’t stand up, stand out!” — the sisters have collaborated with 40 artists and fashion designers for their wheel cover collections, garnered 10 national awards, graced publications like Vogue, and were named in this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30.
Today we’re talking with Ailbhe about Izzy Wheels — their beginnings, their mission to empower wheelchair users, and more. —Kelli
Image above: Ailbhe, left, and Izzy, right, in a portrait by Celeste Sloman.
Image above by Helen Steele
from Design*Sponge https://www.designsponge.com/2018/09/izzy-wheels-empowering-wheelchair-users-through-vibrant-color-personality.html
from Home Improvment http://notelocreesnitu.tumblr.com/post/178179769819
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