Last year, illy encouraged students and alumni of the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York present their own vision on Big Apple through photography in the AuthentiCity competition. In October, 2010 the main prize $10,000 in cash was awarded to Igor Aronov, who was selected out of five finalists for his bespoke impressionism-inspired series ‘Reflection of the City.’ The coffee brand is now returning with the second installment of the project, which attracted over two hundred photographers in its first year, and inviting aspiring visual artists to explore the nature of the city with their cameras again and unlock its secrets in their stills.

Art has no boundaries. Materials, theme, sizes, colours—this is up to the creators to choose. Mentos US invited seven sculptures to come up with their creations made of chewing gum instead of conventional materials such as gesso and clay. The results of this unique collaboration are unveiled on the brand’s Facebook page, with two of them even appearing in magazine print ads (a lady wearing a summer hat/fruit gum and a picture of a giant octopus seizing a ship in the sea/mint gum).

The footwear company New Balance launched another project which encapsulates the theme of youth’s creativity, showcasing life of five young artists from Australia through the world of photography and video. The project, called www.nb574.com (in honour of one model in the brand’s range), will be disclosing details of the guys’ everyday creative experience of bringing new and fresh things in various fields (visual art, fashion and music) to the world.