Playmakers, Enforcers & Goalies Exhibit
Hockey memorabilia exhibit design displays vintage jerseys and sticks, highlighting key Buffalo Sabres players & team events
As a follow up to the Buffalo Sabres’ 40th Anniversary Exhibit, OtherWisz Creative developed a second exhibit to occupy the same display cases on the second-floor mezzanine in HSBC Arena. Borrowing items from the memorabilia collection of Joseph E. Gambacorta, DDS, founder of the Buffalo Hockey Experience + Museum, our design team came up with a new story to tell.
While assessing Dr. Gambacorta’s extensive collection of Sabres team artifacts, we determined the most prevalent player collectibles in his collection were hockey jerseys and sticks. Since both are common among fans, we felt that we could create an easily relatable narrative told through these items. Further evaluating the wealth of sticks and jerseys in the collection, we needed to develop a classification system to add visual interest, deciding to divide players into one of three categories: playmakers, enforcers or goalies.
Services: Environmental Design
The display of sticks and jerseys were organized into their respective categories using a set of custom icons, identifying each player as either a playmaker, enforcer, or goalie. These icons, adhered to the inside of the glass, allowed fans to quickly scan the case to pick out all the enforcers’ jerseys, for example. The icons were then used in a Facebook campaign, driving fans to the Buffalo Hockey Experience + Museum page to vote for their favorite players in each of the categories.
Besides using mannequins to display the jerseys, custom mounting systems were developed to allow a variety of hanging configurations. The assemblage of Sabres’ jerseys, memorabilia and hockey sticks – hanging in mid-air – created a pleasant visual balance of collectibles.
To complement the 2 large display cases, we designed 5 mini-display vignettes that each told its own story. These exhibits sat within glass-covered insets on the nearby wall. These small displays highlighted The Aud Club, collectibles of the famed French Connection, 1970s & ‘80’s hockey cards, team buttons and homemade fan badges, and a final case commemorating the Buffalo Sabres’ European Games in Germany the previous season. Each case had an accompanying story alongside it on a wall-mounted information panel.
The Playmakers, Enforcers & Goalies display was well received by fans and became a big attraction before games and between periods. With the help of OtherWisz Creative, fans were able to take a glimpse into the team’s history as seen through the eyes of its biggest fans, collector Dr. Joe.
