OtherWisz Creative Relocates to Downtown Buffalo
The biggest change to happen in the 18-year history of OtherWisz Creative occurred earlier this month. We’ve relocated our office to a renovated factory in downtown Buffalo. After being “cooped up” in our barn for almost two decades, our team needed more space and a change of scenery. We started planning the move last fall — a process that involved internal discussions on our wants, needs, and plans for the future. We spent a couple of months scouting potential locations, determined to find a new home for our business in Downtown Buffalo.
It was tough to find a space that was as unique and inspiring (and not too finished!) as our little barn. Working in an open floor plan for the last 14 years, we knew we didn’t want traditional office setting with fabric-covered cubicles or a business office suite divided up into multiple rooms. We were looking for something different. As all creative people do, we need a space with personality. In December we finally found the perfect location, and a few months later we moved from our rustic, yet charming, 1,300 square foot converted barn in the Elmwood Village into the fourth floor of a renovated factory building on the east side of Downtown Buffalo. The location, right off the I-190, is historically referred to as Booth Alley, which was once home to a lively city culture. Today the area is home to the ECC Downtown campus, several parking lots and now it’s home to OtherWisz Creative.
An exterior shot of 19 Elm street in Downtown Buffalo. OtherWisz is located on the fourth floor.
Our new office not only has personality, but the building has a long history with roots in design and advertising. Located at 19 Elm Street, the Gutman Building was initially home to a trouser factory in the early 1900s. A few years later, a well-known Buffalo stationery company − Bates Jackson Printers and Engravers − moved into a small section of the building. As the printing business expanded, the company took up a larger portion of the building until it grew to occupy the entire building; offices were on the top floor, engravers on the fourth, and additional presses on the second and third floors. The trouser business would gradually downsize until it shut down in 1919. Throughout the 1940s, Gallagher Elevator shared the building with Bates Jackson and as both industries changed, reduced the size of their offices over the years. The building sat nearly vacant for years before local developer, Roger Trettel, purchased it in 2012. Today a small portion of the printing business & the elevator company still occupy the building. Long gone are the large engraving presses that once sat on the floor that houses our new studio, but they are not forgotten as we design in this marvelous space with its large windows and worn and ink-stained hardwood floors.
After working out of the same space for years, it was quite a change to start coming to a new location, but with an open floor plan of 4,000 square feet and great downtown views, we now have a space that feels perfect. Our new office gives us much more room to design and construct large installations, stage photo and video shoots, and a conference room for meeting with larger groups and training sessions. We now enjoy working awash in natural light, even on overcast days. After only a few weeks in our new studio, the change has been embraced; we are excited to see what else we can design here.
Check out some photos and a skateboard video of our new design studio below @ 19 Elm Street & South Division or check out our Instagram account for more.
The corner office at Elm and S. Division Street, reserved for Mark Wisz, “They finally gave me the corner office!”
The communal design studio featuring the design team @ work. The concrete pads on the floor are where the large engraving printers used to sit.
A shot of the office from the conference room. Designers hard at work in the former trouser factory.
The other corner office shows off our abundant space & standing desks. We are still moving in, BTW.
