In the summer of 1974, brothers Jolly and Cornelius Rechenberg were working in a factory in Germany, filling small plastic bags with rice and beads.

The pouches were intended for women who had had mastectomies.

Jessica McGowan/AJC (ENLARGE)

Breast form technician Yesenia Palacios examies and packages breast forms at American Breast Care in Marietta.

Jessica McGowan/AJC (ENLARGE)

Jay Markowitz (left) and Jolly Rechenberg talk with retailers during a meeting at the American Breast Care Marietta office on March 17, 2008.

• See More Photos BY THE NUMBERS • 182,460 - Expected new breast cancer cases in the U.S. in 2008 • 40,480 - Expected breast cancer deaths in the U.S. this year • 1,110 - Expected breast cancer deaths in Georgia this year • 80,000 - Estimated annual number of U.S. women who have mastectomies Sources: American Cancer Society's 2008 Cancer Facts & Figures; Dr. Sheryl Gabram-Mendola, professor of surgery at Emory Winship Cancer Institute. BUSINESS Latest Headlines: 401 (k) 'dippers' robbing future to pay now  Peachtree City Panasonic plant to cut 500 jobs  Down payment assistance program to end  H&M attracts three generations in suburbs  Former eBay exec joins Home Depot  • More business news • Business photo galleries

"They were crude and basic," Jolly Rechenberg recalled. "We kept thinking, 'Gosh, there's got to be something better than that.' "

Figuring they could do better, the teenagers turned their mother's kitchen into a lab, creating a softer, more comfortable breast form made of silicone. But not before destroying the kitchen.

"Our mom was a saint. She was very, very understanding," said Rechenberg, a native of Brannenburg, Germany, who came to the U.S. in the early 1980s. "Of course, she threw us out after a few months."

Today, that kitchen experiment is a profitable $10 million- to $12 million-a-year business in Marietta called American Breast Care. The privately held company, part of a small industry of about a half-dozen firms worldwide, makes between 1,500 and 2,000 breast forms a week.

Breast forms, prostheses that come in varying thicknesses, primarily are used by women who have had a lumpectomy or mastectomy. Women with misshapen breasts use them as well.

The company's 27,000-square-foot production and shipping complex is tucked behind a tiny front office in a Cobb County business park. By contrast, most of its competitors make the forms abroad.

The plant easily could be mistaken for a tool-and-die shop, if it weren't for dozens of breast-shaped metal molds hanging on a wall near the entrance. In the center of the room, workers calibrate the contents of the silicone-filled molds before putting them in six giant ovens fired to around 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Behind the ovens are several vats of simmering liquid silicone. In another part of the facility workers are hunched over forms, cutting away excess plastic, preparing them for packing. At the packing station, a worker places forms, which have the consistency of Silly Putty, into round tan cases that look like makeup kits you'd take on an overnight trip. The employee tucks a little card that says, "handcrafted by David," into the lid before closing it.

"We have a high-tech, high-touch experience," said Jay Markowitz, who shares the title of CEO with Jolly Rechenberg. Markowitz's mother is a breast cancer survivor.

"All the prostheses are made by hand," Markowitz tells a group of about a dozen customers in town recently to tour the plant and talk to executives. "The machines are there to help the people do a better job."

Each worker follows a breast form from start to finish. "It makes a huge difference. ... You take ownership," Jolly Rechenberg said.

Last week, the two executives hosted a group of retailers at the headquarters. The 11 women toured the facility, made breast forms and were treated to a fashion show by women who'd had breast surgery. The group spent the afternoon giving blunt feedback: Lose the tiny bows on the front of the bras, and figure out a way to build more sturdy support in the larger breast forms, which tend to buckle and move around.

"Quite honestly, our business is built on people telling us what they need," Markowitz said.

The company has come a long way from the days when Rechenberg and his late brother Cornelius used their mother's oven, freezer and other kitchen appliances to make a messy, sticky alternative to a bag of seeds. The kitchen experiment led to the Rechenbergs' patented process of making breast forms in individual molds.

Jolly Rechenberg brought the concept to the United States, opening a business called Amoena. That company was sold in the mid-1990s to a Danish firm, which eventually sent production overseas, putting the 100 workers in Marietta out of work.

Rechenberg ended up back in the field after a group of the laid-off Amoena workers approached him. He teamed with Markowitz, a veteran of the bra-making industry, to start American Breast Care. (Cornelius Rechenberg died of colon cancer before ABC opened.)

Before opening the business in 2003, Rechenberg and Markowitz traveled the country to find out what customers wanted.

"One of the first things we heard about was the packaging," Markowitz said. "It was big, bulky and not very feminine."

ABC responded by putting the breast forms in the makeup-style cases. Next, they set out to create a lighter form that has been well-received.

"As a surgeon, I really applaud the efforts of these companies to design comfortable prostheses," said Dr. Sheryl Gabram-Mendola, professor of surgery at Emory's Winship Cancer Institute and director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Center at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. "So women who are survivors of breast cancer can go on living their lives normally."

Now in its fifth year, American Breast Care has a work force of about 50 and a line of forms and post-mastectomy bras. The company has set its sights on Europe.

Jolly Rechenberg's oldest son, Clemens, 27, recently joined the company to build European sales out of a London office.

"It was part of our plan," said the senior Rechenberg. "We felt the first five years, we needed to focus on America. After five years, we'd go into the European market."