City Showdown Francesca Eddie
City Showdown Milan
As our #RaiseTheGame partnership with the NBA has just expanded with another multi-year agreement, we are continuing to uplift and invest in the grassroots of basketball across Europe.
Our City Showdown project has pitted creatives in different cities against each other, painting six custom NBA balls, inspired by franchise cities.
In Milan, Francesca and Eddie have both long-used basketball as inspiration for their artwork, and now have used a ball as their canvas for the first time.
After their showdown, we caught up with them both one-on-one.
Francesca Cassani
A keen basketball player since she was a child, Francesca uses the game, along with her city and surroundings, to inspire her art.
The graphic/web designer and artist, incorporates various elements such as shapes, colours, text, and illustrations to produce unique creations and geometric compositions.
Of the three balls she designed, her style is most evident on the Phoenix Suns ball.
“I went with very bright and vivid colours, with segments of the ball being inspired by the Arizona landscape, and the texture on the Suns jersey.”
Basketball and her artwork are intrinsically linked. She even got the opportunity to paint her own basketball court in Milan last summer.
And it is through the game that she is able to re-energise herself to produce her best work.
“Basketball is like a second home to me. It gives me back energy after a hard day's work. Basketball makes me feel good and makes me feel like myself.”
Eddie Faienza
Eddie customises sneakers and clothing using what he calls a ‘conceptual urban’ style.
He gets inspiration from his own life experiences, basketball and the heart of the cities he lives in and visits.
His Atlanta Hawks ball design brings together these experiences.
“Atlanta is one of the biggest multicultural cities in the US, so I wanted to represent that union. The hand sign represents the hawk over the city's skyline, connecting the team and uniting different ethnicities,” he explained.
“I drew a golden hawk carrying the "E" to compose the "dream"; the dream Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had, the dream of the youth and the dream of entering the league - shown by the little boy under the NBA logo.“
And while on his own path to greatness in the art world, it is basketball that is helping him get there.
“Basketball means everything to me,” he concluded.
“I really think so. It helped me in lots of ways and made me become better. It got me to know beautiful people, go to beautiful places, meet great players and express myself.”
