About LegStyle

Andre’s story

I was born in South Africa and have been an amputee since birth. I’ve been making and wearing my own leg covers for more than fifteen years.

As a teenager, I saw a bold, colourful cover that changed how I felt about my leg. My prosthetist, Trevor Brauckmann, made one for me and later painted custom designs on it. I’d never let my leg hold me back, but for the first time I felt proud of how my prosthesis looked.

There was a practical problem, though. I couldn’t swim in it, and the cover couldn’t come off. I still went in the water, but hopping through the waves gets tiring quickly.

Years later, working as a product development engineer in New Zealand, I began making covers for myself. It took years of trying, learning and wearing them before I felt they were good enough to share. The covers I make now go in the water with you. They’re hard wearing, too, and made for everyday life.

I’d wanted to make covers for other people for a long time. The people at Peke Waihanga have been generous with their support and encouragement, and I’m very grateful.

What matters to me

These days, I’m thinking more about the joy a cover can bring. My aim is to make covers people love, at prices more people can afford.

Whether you want something bold and colourful or simple and quiet, that choice should be yours. My covers are made to go in the water and come off without tools. After the sea, rinse the zipper in fresh water. A cover should last well, be easy to live with, and feel like something you chose for yourself.

How it comes together

Choose a design and colour, or bring your own artwork. Your clinician checks suitability, arranges the scans and places the order. Before I make your cover, they receive a preview to approve and can share it with you.

Every cover pattern starts somewhere. Some are adapted from historical artwork that museums and photographers have shared openly, and some use freely available material, such as New Zealand elevation data from Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand. Most are created with the help of AI tools, and some I make myself. Whatever the source, I choose each design, make changes where needed, and work it into the cover. I also want to acknowledge the many artists whose work AI tools learned from.

AI assistants, including Claude and ChatGPT, have helped me build this website and work through ideas for it, including the online cover previews and the “Make it your own” artwork tool. They’ve made things possible that I couldn’t have managed on my own, and I’m grateful for that.