Bergh Special Products and Alexandra Kutas: when wheelchair spoke guards meet meaning

In the world of wheelchair accessories, few names have shaped both function and feeling quite like Frank Bod. The Dutch entrepreneur founded Bergh Special Products (BSP) in 1999 with a simple conviction — that safety and dignity should never be separate. From a small workshop in the Netherlands, Bod built a company that now delivers custom wheelchair spoke guards, wheelchair trays, and other precision-made solutions to more than thirty countries, setting new global standards for comfort and personal expression.

For over two decades, Bod has believed that mobility products should go beyond practicality — that they should help people feel seen. “Mobility is deeply personal,” he often says, and under his leadership, BSP has grown into the quiet force redefining what wheelchair accessories can mean to those who use them.

Turning engineering into innovation art

That belief found new depth when Vladyslav Biletskyi joined BSP as Chief Innovation Officer. With a background rooted in management, his mission was to blend technology with individuality — transforming engineering into emotional design. The company’s neon wheelchair spoke guards, once purely a safety feature, evolved into symbols of visibility, style, and confidence.

V. Biletskyi’s approach reframes accessibility as a form of identity: individuality is part of accessibility. When users can see their personality reflected in the tools of everyday life, mobility becomes empowerment. Each design — bright, glowing, and expressive — speaks to a story, a mood, or a sense of presence that refuses to be reduced to function.

BSP’s attention to detail has also elevated traditional wheelchair spoke covers creating a new aesthetic standard that blends safety with self-expression.

Where fashion meets accessibility

That philosophy reached the world of fashion through Alexandra Kutas — the world’s first runway model in a wheelchair and an Obama Foundation Leader. A global advocate for inclusion and an award-winning producer, Kutas has inspired audiences worldwide by turning disability into dialogue, appearing on international stages and collaborating with designers from London to Delhi.

When Vladyslav Biletskyi reached out to propose a creative partnership, Alexandra responded immediately and wholeheartedly. She understood at once that individuality within accessibility is not a luxury — it’s a statement.

For the collaboration, BSP invited Kutas to present and photograph the new neon wheelchair spoke guards in London — a collection without prints, defined instead by light, reflection, and emotion. The concept captures the essence of visibility and self-expression: subtle, modern, and alive.

Kutas, known for her ability to merge advocacy with aesthetics, embraced the idea instantly. «She knows how powerful it is to show individuality through the objects wheelchair users use every day»,  says V. Biletskyi. «Her presence gives this project not just beauty, but purpose».

In the shoot, light becomes fabric, and the wheelchair spoke protectors become symbols — of movement, of voice, and of freedom.

Design with purpose, light with meaning

For Frank Bod, progress is only real when it’s responsible. BSP continues to innovate with eco-conscious materials, recyclable packaging, and sustainable production methods, ensuring that beauty never comes at the cost of the planet.

Each collaboration — whether with global wheelchair manufacturers or individual creators like Alexandra Kutas — reinforces BSP’s guiding idea: accessibility is not about limitation, but liberation.

As the new neon wheelchair spoke guards designs prepare for their debut, the message behind them shines clear — wheelchair accessories can carry not just protection, but presence; not just form, but meaning.

 

Byline: Sheng Alferez