Frenchman, Jean Pierre Gonnord was today granted the XII Guiri de Sanfermin Award, an award which is given each year by the Kukuxumusu firm in recognition of the many foreign visitors who live the fiestas with passion and fervor each year during Sanfermin.

The award was handed over by Mikel Urmeneta and Koldo Aiestaran, in representation of Kukuxumusu, who were accompanied by Juan Mari Idoate, from the Europa restaurant, where the event took place. The award was given out today as it coincides with the celebration of “Guiri Day” (Day of the Foreigner), an annual date which Kukuxumusu has been organizing for the past 18 years with the objective of paying homage to all the foreign visitors who visit Sanfermin year after year.

After receiving the award, Gonnord wished to share his first impressions as Guiri de Sanfermin 2015: “What most stimulates me to come to Sanfermin year after year is the fantastic atmosphere here. The feeling that here in fiestas we are all truly equal; all dressed the same in red and white.” Jean Pierre went on to say that he felt very happy to have been chosen as the Guiri Del Año: “This year I will now be looking at the fiestas in a new way, with the eye of an expert”.

At 35 years of age, Jean Pierre speaks perfect Spanish and can even get by in the Basque language. He studied a post-graduate Master’s in the UPNA (The Public University of Navarra) and ever since then he feels very close to the city of Pamplona. However, his first connections with Sanfermin go back much further, as his grandfather has Basque origins and both he and Jean’s mother used to come to fiestas many years ago.

When asked how he would define or explain to someone what exactly Sanfermin is all about, he is very clear in his response. “It is a great big party, very free and open, with just some simple steps to follow, such as to dress in red and white. If you are going to come alone, don’t worry you will soon have many friends. It is also a good idea to remember that the nights can be cool here, even when it is hot all day.” One thing he is also clear about – he has never taken part in the Running of the Bulls. “What I enjoy is the night scene and then in the early morning to go to a bar for some Spanish omelet and a nice glass of fresh orange juice…and watch the Running of the Bulls event on the TV”.

After the award was handed over, the group was served an aperitif at the Europa before heading off to eat at an open air venue in the countryside, close to Pamplona. Here they were joined by the remainder of the Kukuxumusu staff for a full lunch.

Among those present were several winners of the Guiri del Año award from previous years such as the North Americans, Lore Monnig (2005), John Hemingway (2011) and Catherine Donnell (2012), The Suede, Lars Ingvar Jungefors (2006), German, Manfred Walloschke (2007), Englishman, Frank Taylor (2009) and the Russian, Anna Nelubova (2014).

In addition, there are now some football T-shirts available with three exclusive Kukuxumusu designs: "Redondo", with different models in black and white; "Cuadrado"; and also our first ever special football T-shirt made for Chile, "Yañez", which is available in white and blue and which we hope will prove to be lucky for the national football team in the current Copa América football competition.

You lot clearly like to let your hair down, as 1.328 people participated in this design category. Acojotoro came hot on the heels of Facebull with 315 votes, followed by Etiqueta with 173. Click here to check out the results of this contest and the other nine other polls in the 26th Annibestiary competition.

Facebull is a design from 2012, emerging from the explosion in popularity of Facebook.

Three lucky winners will get this T-shirt absolutely free. See the prize draw results here, selected from those that voted in this category.

The draw to select the winner for the trip to Sanfermin will take place on Thursday 18th June. Anyone that voted from January on will be entered, so keep an eye out.

Eventually, after much deliberation, we settled for 3 stories that were very different in style, but we liked what and how they were told. The prize for the authors will be a special 26th Annibestiary pack each, with 10 classic T-shirts that you have asked us to reprint with your votes.

These are the three winning stories. As you will see, we have kept them in the original version in which we received them.

-EQUALITY. Bernard Nel
-EN MIS VIAJES POR EL MUNDO. Erika
-ÉRASE UNA VEZ. Susana Andreu

On our 26^th anniversary, we have decided to celebrate it in high style by launching a new collection of Sanfermin 2015 T-shirts with some original designs centered on humor, on the new technologies and on sensuality.

The route of the Running of the Bulls is the central feature of the special Sanfermin 2015 T-shirt, and it includes some of the most characteristic buildings in Pamplona, with a Sanfermin touch that includes things like the Hemingway monument, the Mercaderes corner or the City Hall and all made with that characteristic touch of humor, which is so important to us. In addition, there are some other cute drawings such as the Paloselfie’, T-shirt, in which, it is the bull and not the spectator, who takes the selfie shot holding the characteristic rod as it runs in the bullrunning. Then there are some other T-shirts directly related to the Sanfermines such as the ‘Kalimotxo Effect’ or the ‘Evolution Running’, which outlines the evolution of the Kukuxumusu bull over its 26 years of growth and development. There are even some rather “bloody” sketches, such as ‘Rompiendo’ and ‘Infarto’ for the more gory fans of Kukuxumusu.

For the girls, we also have designs such as ‘Corazón SF’ in bright fun colors with a design which shows the Sanfermin fiestas in all their glory. For the kiddies and even the babies, the drawings reflect some of the kiddies Sanfermin scenes such as the ‘Comparsa’, ‘Kilik’, 'Patatús' and ‘Running of the bugs’. 

So relax and enjoy, because this year our aim has been to make sure that the new collection for Sanfermin should extend beyond the immediate days of fiestas and become a lifelong souvenir, both for the people who are first time rookies to the fiestas and for those for whom Sanfermin is like their second home, every July, from many years back. And, just in case, some protection is need from a strong north wind, we have also made available some jackets for possible temperature protection. So now, the only thing you have to worry about is the quantity of kalimotxo you might imbibe.

There are 4 Satchels for World Awareness, each one with a design that illustrates the particular life and work of each of these regions in which the Ayuda en Acción Organization develops its work: Latin America, Africa, Asia and Spain. Four satchels that help to create awareness of the world at the same time as we fight against inequality. That is why each drawing comes with the caption: "I have the world on my satchel".

100.000 satchels have been manufactured, and thanks to the help from entities such as Repsol, Simply and Seur, the satchels are now on sale at some 400 outlets and at the online shop of Ayuda en Acción for 6 euros. By buying one of these satchels, you are helping develop the projects of Ayuda en Acción and also helping children, wherever they may live, to share the same opportunities in life.

With this initiative, Ayuda en Acción aims to carry out its objective of financing their projects for children with the hope of improving living conditions for some 800.000 boys and girls in Spain and in 22 other countries around the world.

Kukuxumusu's blue bull is called Mister Testis and when he gets mad -or they get him mad-, he has a really nasty temper. As you can see, in this drawing he was "up to his testis" and ended up taking it out on everyone around. "Hasta los Testis" was the drawing which earned most votes in the Power category of our 26th Annibestiary poll, so if you're a bit fed up with it all and incensed about the way things are going, then this is just the T-shirt for you.

"Hasta los Testis", a T-shirt from 2012, received 150 votes, beating Hiruko (hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil) and Bananadrama, a call for everyone to find love, no matter how different they are. See all the results here.

Mikel Urmeneta, Kukuxumusu's founder and creative director, not to mention Mister Testis' adoptive father, liked the result of the poll. "When people are sick and tired of being treated like some stupid flock of sheep for years, then these kind of things happen, and even Mister Testis gets incensed and starts lashing out at everyone who's taken him for a fool, who hasn't listened to him, who has robbed him, swindled him, tricked him, looked down on him, ignored him, bashed him..."

As Urmeneta recognises, "it's a true reflection of what's going on in a lot of countries and Kukuxumusu, like the good current affairs reporters we are, wanted to show this reality on a T-shirt. It's our own particular newspaper".

The T-shirt is on sale already, together with all the other models which have won the different poll categories since January. But all good things come to an end and you can now vote in the last category, which we have christened Fiesta, because all the drawings have something to do with partying. And as you know, we are true party animals.

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We are delighted and even thrilled. "Kalipe", the T-shirt we designed 10 years ago with the Italian mountain climber Reinhold Messner has won the vote in the Mountaineering category of our 26th Annibestiary poll and so it will be a great pleasure for us to re-release it so all those who weren't lucky enough to get one a decade ago will have another chance now.

"Kalipe", a Tibetan term which roughly translates as "always walk calmly", was the word Messner chose as the title for the drawing, a tribute to all those climbers who realised their dreams by finding in their hearts the oxygen which their lungs were no longer able to provide. Among his many achievements, Reinhold Messner became the first man to climb the 14 eight-thousanders without the aid of supplemental oxygen.

Messner helped us reach the highest heights ten years ago, but in our time we have supported nearly a hundred expeditions with our drawings and T-shirts, including a number involving some of the best-known climbers around, like the Iñurrategi brothers, Juanito Oiarzabal, Ang Rita, Edurne Pasaban, Denis Urubko and Simone Moro. We even had the pleasure to work alongside Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Everest, on a T-shirt we christened Lata-Montaña.

Some of these pictures featured among the ten selected for you to choose from. You decided that the best drawing was "Kalipe", which got 245 votes, just a few more than another mythical T-shirt, Himalaya, which received 230. Desfiladero and Pirena trailed some way behind. View results.

We are approaching the end of the voting process. The Power category, with 10 protest drawings which don't mince their words, is now ready to receive your votes. Click here to vote.

And it is for them that we have designed some special T-shirts with a drawing that aims to encourage the goal of this special team: to promote playing sports among all those who suffer from Down syndrome and to help them be self-sufficient.

This Project began in the club a couple of years ago when one of the players from Gaztedi, who works in Down Araba, realized how positive it could be for those who suffer from the illness to be able to play a sport such as rugby. The club took up the idea with enthusiasm and since then a pile of boys and girls - some 15 at the moment - train and play rugby alongside the rest of the players.

For the moment, there is no official league competition in which they can take part, because there are just three other similar teams in the whole of Spain. However, they do have some forthcoming challenges to prepare for. In June, there will be a competition in which both players, with and without Down Syndrome, will compete together under special rules expressly made for this special competition. Later on, in August, the team will travel to England to take part in an international tournament there.

With the aim of getting some money to cover their expenses, the team started selling the T-shirts some days ago which we had made especially for them. The T-shirts were recently displayed at the Araba Cup, a tournament between rugby schools which brings together more than a thousand young rugby players of between 6 and 14 years and where some of the kids who suffer from Down Syndrome played in some of the games.

If you would like to learn more about this Project of all-inclusive rugby, you can watch this video from Down Spain.

Elephants need help. Every day about one hundred die at the hands of poachers in Africa. If this scandal is not stopped, the species will have disappeared from the face of the earth within the next 15 years. This fact is graphically reflected in our new "Helphant" T-shirt and it is also brought home to TV viewers by Jon Sistiaga in his report "Tusks of Blood", a documentary film which will be premiered on Canal+TV next 3rd of June.

"Helphant" is the latest creation in the series of ReporT-shirts, a project which we share with reporter Jon Sistiaga, in which we sketch a drawing of some of the stark brutal realities shot by the reporter with his camera. As always, profits from sales of the T-shirt will go to the NGO, Médicos sin Fronteras.

On this occasion, Sistiaga has travelled to Kenya to reveal the reality behind elephant poaching and the illegal trading in ivory, which reaches exorbitant prices on the black market.

Human evolution: a journey through the existence of man from primate to the subjugation of another primate. This is the "laughandthink" drawing which earned most votes in our poll to choose the T-shirts to be reprinted to celebrate our 26th Annibestiary.

Slavevolution received 173 votes, beating the 117 earned by Ataute, the chicken's funeral, and the 99 received by Cerebrote, the drawing which reminds us that madness is unbridled freedom. See all the results.

Slavevolution is a design dating back from 2010, but the original idea came much earlier than that, practically when we first started out, as our creative director Mikel Urmeneta recalls.

"There's a whole history behind this drawing and almost more evolution than there is in the picture itself. We did a drawing of exactly the same subject years ago, in our early days, and it was a bestseller. Kukuxumusu evolved in many ways, not least in the style and appearance of our characters, so we wanted to revamp that old glory, that graphic predecessor, and redraw it in line with the times".

As always, the drawing is open to different interpretations. It may look like human evolution has led to man enslaving his ancestors, but, as Urmeneta points out, if that is so, "we still can't be sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing". Or maybe the picture means that we should have been domesticated in order not to evolve into what we are. Or it's anyone's guess.

The only thing we do know is that Kukuxumusu has evolved and is evolving, for better or for worse.

And so that you can carry on evolving along with us, you can now vote in our next 26th Annibestiary category. They're all Mountaineering drawings, the ten most emblematic and best loved designs we have taken to the highest peaks of the world over the last 26 years. Click here to vote.

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The Evolution Running T-shirt is a part of our history and, at the same time, a foretaste of our coming new Sanfermin 2015 Collection, which will shortly be available at our stores in Pamplona and, of course, at our Online Shop too. 

Taking advantage of the fact that we are this year celebrating our 26th Annibestiary, we wished to anticipate the Sanfermin fiestas with this T-shirt which displays the evolution of our blue bull from its birth in 1989 right up to this year of 2015. 

Evolution Running can be got in a unisex model at the Kukuxumusu Online Shop. And precisely because today is the 5th of May - a key date in Pamplona for taking another big step on the ladder towards the Sanfermin fiestas - we have put a special discount of 15% which is valid until the 10th of May, as long as you use the SANFERMIN Voucher in the purchase transaction.

The bulls on the T-shirt display the evolution of the Kukuxumusu drawing over the past 26 years of Sanfermin sketching. We move from a blue bull with a heavy outline, with yellow horns and rigid limbs towards a bull that starts to take on some curves and a more expressive face and eyes. The personality of the drawings of the Kukuxumusu blue bull towards the final creation of Mister Testis where the animal can now walk on two hind legs and take a step out of the world of beasts in order to mix in with the humans, whenever he feels like it.

Kukuxumusu was chosen to design the dress wear by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), the State entity which is responsible for overseeing the Spanish contribution at International and Universal Expositions. On this occasion, Kukuxumusu will work side-by-side with the Sagardi Group, who will be supervising the different areas of restaurant and gourmet shop which the Pavilion will host around the theme of "The language of taste".

The basic items of the dress wear - jacket, trousers, shirt, polo, reflect quite a sober cut, precisely so as to highlight the brightness and color of the accessories, which have been printed with the drawing created by Kukuxumusu for this occasion, such as the scarves, bowties, ties, kaftans, rainwear and footwear - this latter item being created in collaboration with the Victoria trademark- for the staff in reception and for shop assistants and in the case of the restaurant business - aprons and chef hats for the staff working in the kitchens and restaurants.

The challenge was to find the right balance of differentiation in the dress wear while retailing a general air of elegance and comfort for all the personnel. In the particular case of the dress wear for reception personnel, we have placed a special emphasis on designing very elegant garments, which are, at the same time, conceived with an original touch. They combine just the right amount of formality required in a uniform of these characteristics with the freedom of movement which we wished to impart to the garments in our design. The result is a uniform which does not look too much like a uniform and which retains an attractive look.

EXPO MILANO 2015 expects to receive more than 20 million visits. There are 144 countries participating as well as 3 international organizations. The Spanish pavilion will develop all its activities around the theme of "The language of taste" and it is expected to have about 2 million visits over the six months that the Universal Exposition will last.

Tickets for the concert are on sale at 8 euros, and, in addition, a zero row has been created - row 0 - for all those who cannot make the concert but who would like to donate something to this just cause.

The bank account number is: ES8330080087753001675713.
You can find further information about the concert at the web page of Zentral, where you can also purchase the tickets, if you wish: http://www.zentralpamplona.com/event/xabitxurock/

And here, the full story about the little boy, as revealed some months ago in the local newspaper Diario de Navarra.

SEE ENROSQUE T-SHIRT

A picture of the preludes to sex between a nut and a bolt proved the most popular of all the designs included in the Sex category in the poll to choose the best of the best to celebrate our 26th Annibestiary.

With 523 votes, "Enrosque" beat "Kalikeño", the bottle opener and bottle enjoying a relaxing cigarette after God knows what (317 votes), and "Tortuguesa", the half-blind tortoise shamelessly mounting a hamburger (309 votes). A total of 1.784 people voted, a record figure, leading us to think that you are more interested in sex than any other subject. See results.

A special limited edition of the T-shirt, a true classic from 2003 which still stirs passions, and not only between nuts and bolts, is now on sale.

While still getting over the disappointment of not winning one of the T-shirts yourself and deciding who you can buy "Enrosque" for, you can vote in the next category, "Reirypensar ("Laughandthink"), all one word, ten drawings which will raise a smile, but also make you think. Click here to vote.

At the end of the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci drew a picture with anatomical notes known as the Vitruvian Man. It was really a study of human proportions and has, over the centuries, become extremely famous; you can take a look at in a museum in Venice if you ever get the chance. What Leonardo couldn't have imagined is that just over five hundred years later, Kukuxumusu would replace the man with a cow and make its own version, a design from 2007 now set to be re-released because that is what you decided with your votes in the poll held to celebrate our 26th Annibestiary.

The cow earned 184 votes, easily outstripping other legendary T-shirts like Wolf Anagrama, Korrikotestis and Circus, all in the Musu&Kukuxu category, pictures about us, our name, pencils and logos.

As has become the norm, the T-shirt will be put on sale as a special limited edition. So don't dilly-dally if you want one. Maybe one day it will be worth as much as the original Vitruvian Man and be displayed in a museum. Who knows.

When you have finished admiring the measurements of the Vitrudderian Cow, you can cast your vote in our next design category, "Sex", all kinds of species getting up to all kinds of hanky-panky.

We, in our own way, are also going to support this initiative. At eight thirty in the evening and during a period of one hour, it will not be possible to surf this web page. The web page will remain inactive while we, as a firm, reflect on whether as a business company, we are doing enough to take care of the wellbeing of our planet. All of you may also join this voluntary blackout or not, that is a voluntary decision for everyone to take. But it should not be forgotten that a year has 8.760 hours and that our planet needs you during all of those hours.

At 9:30 p.m. (8:30p.m. GMT) we will be back in action, so you won't miss us for very long.

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If you don't understand Spanish, it might be a bit hard to get the joke behind this T-shirt. What you won't have any trouble understanding is the picture, which reproduces, albeit in citric form, the famous shower scene in which Norman Bates -or rather his mother- slashes the blonde played by Janet Leigh with a knife in Hitchcock's masterpiece.

Psycho ("Psicosis" in Spanish) has become Citrosis, and you decided that, of all the movie star and film-based designs we suggested, this T-shirt should be reprinted to celebrate our 26th Annibestiary. Citrosis pulled in 283 votes, way ahead of the glamorous Pepita (257 votes) and Albert the scientist (179 votes). As it's a special limited edition, don't hang around before deciding to get one if you fell in love with it at first sight.

While you're still getting over citrosis, take a look at our new topic, which we call Musu&Kukuxu. They are designs very close to our hearts, ones that refer to us through our flea, our logo or our name. Vote for them lovingly; you don't want to scare them off.

Kukuxumusu have personalized the flat open Surface area of the mud fenders with one of its drawings and this design is being used by the Caja Rural Team which is sponsored by Seguros RGA and FUJI Bikes. Our creative team made three proposals using the corporative colors of the team (green and white) and also took advantage of the white background surface of the support. The drawing finally selected was the one which displayed a squad of ants cycling frenetically across the stalk of a plant.

The mud fenders from SencilloBikes for the Caja Rural Team are available at the SencilloBikes online shop at the price of 6, 5 euros.

The Marea Granate is an international movement made up of Spanish emigrants and friends whose aim is to fight the injustices that in many cases forced the people to emigrate in the first place. Their slogan is "Nos vamos, nos echan" (We're off, we're being kicked out") and it is organized by continents, countries and cities. Its web page offers practical information to deal with common problems that emigrants can experience such as postal voting, health assistance or dealing with the consulate and embassy, etc. It also organizes some social activities such as, in this case, the Mus championship.

Today, 21st of March, we celebrate Down Syndrome World Day and we are happy to report that this week, for this same reason, the Kukuxumusu Stores in Pamplona received some extra help from Vanessa and Beñat. Over some hours this morning, this boy and girl from the Navarra Down Syndrome Association joined in with Maider and Leyre, from our regular staff, in carrying out the daily tasks in the Pamplona stores. Vanessa and Beñat each put on a mandatory Kukuxumusu-shirt and proceeded to sort out the garments and straighten out the store before opening the stores and attending the public with sales purchases over the morning session.

Beñat chose the Ikurriña model while Vanessa went for the Adi model. This is Vanessa's third time to help us out and indeed she is a real Kukuxumusu fan. Beñat enjoyed himself so much that it is pretty sure that he will also be back with us next year again.

This initiative is part of a Project created by the Navarra Down Syndrome Association along with the Pamplona Downtown Retail Association whereby the stores offer a chance for people with Down Syndrome to get some work experience.

Captions:

Beñat and Leyre shared a working day together

To be more precise, we have a total of 8 drawings on show, four of these specially made for the little boys' bottle and four of these for the little girls' bottle. However, in the end, as kids tend to have their own personal whims, they will no doubt ask for the bottle they want and there is nothing wrong with that I guess. In addition to the label, we have also left our mark on the packaging for the six- bottle pack.

Insalus has been on the market ever since 1888 and its springs are to be found on the extreme Western side of the Pyrenees, on the foothills of both the Sierra de Aralar and the Otsabio Mountain.

Its spring water is now available at all the usual Insalus outlets.

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BUY THE “POWER” T-SHIRT

You have spoken and the hippiest cow around is back. The “Vaca hippy” T-shirt, a classic design from 2004, was the most voted T-shirt in the Peace&War category, securing 600 votes, and is now available so you can let everyone know that love is cooler than war.

As the most-voted design is a bit feminine, we have also reprinted the T-shirt that “hippy cow” was originally based on, “Power”, another bestseller which we think has just as much to say now as it did a whole decade back.

We were also thrilled to note your appreciation for other designs like “Apuntatu” and “Euskalpalemaker”, which drew in 400 and 328 votes, respectively. Here are the full results.

And it doesn’t end here. You can now cast your votes in the “Stars” category. You know the kind of thing: lots of film stars, loads of famous movies and lashings and lashings of glamour. Vote, because there are classic T-shirts you’re bound to want us to reprint. It’s in your hands.

Just take a quick look at the fresonpromocion.com web page to get an idea about the close collaboration undertaken by Kukuxumusu and Fresón de Palos in 2015. In addition, you can participate in the draw for 300 Tablets; all wrapped in a Kukuxumusu cover and open to all customers and distributors of Fresón de Palos products. Kukuxumusu's task was to design and draw the promotion campaign for Fresón de Palos through 2015. The central theme in the promotion design is about the wolf who forgets about his natural instinct to eat sheep and he changes that to one of friendship thanks to the fact that both the sheep and the wolf are enjoying the tastes of Fresón de Palos products.

We urge you to see the video and to take part in the promotion campaign at  fresonpromocion.com because there are 300 Tablets available as prizes. They also come in a personalized Kukuxumusu cover which features the two protagonists of the video.

Aditium# is now a well-known Basque firm which stands out for its expertise in NFC technology where it develops solutions for payments and identification procedures.

The Kukuxumusu drawing made for Aditium# brings to mind the famous images created by Michelangelo for the Sistine chapel where the finger of God gives life to the first man. But in this current drawing the cell phones with NFC are the protagonists for all kinds of services. The remaining part of the actions drawn show different applications for the solutions provided by Aditium#.

Just behind Matamores were Enchufe (Plug) and Nudos (Knots), and much behind were the other 7 t-shirts that completed this theme. You can see the results here.

Matamores is a love and anti-love story that our creative manager Mikel Urmeneta tells like nobody else: "A brilliant drawing created for the anti-Valentine's Day, or for the day of people who were already in love and didn't need Cupid's help, or for those who laughed at love, or for those who hated the idea of showing their love on a certain date, or for those who thought differently". You can read the rest of his explanation on our blog.

And this keeps going, now it's the Peace&War category's turn. As you know, a lot of love tanks and very few truth shots. Vote because there are legendary t-shirts that you are most probably dying for us to reprint. It's all up to you.

It’s confirmed: we are going to reprint the Escondido t-shirt because 1.078 of you made that choice in the first votes of our 26th Annibestiary, within the Animals theme. So there you have it, don’t miss out on getting your Escondido t-shirt, because it’s a really cool, but limited, print. You can buy it in a few days for just 19,50 Euros.

Escondido has won by a landslide, as you can see on the Results page, and was way ahead of Music (683), Lick (627) or Gim (612). In total, 5.036 people voted on these.

We didn’t let Mikel Urmeneta, founding partner and artistic manager of Kukuxumusu, vote, but we did ask him to tell us how this fantastic drawing was created. You can read how here.

As this doesn’t stop here, the new voting period is open, the Loves theme, with another 10 drawings for all of you to chose the second t-shirt for us to reprint to celebrate our 26th Annibestiary.

Urmeneta spoke about the importance of autobiographical artistic material with which he creates his work and, he immediately began to make a paint brush by cutting off some of his own beard and he went on to make a poster with reference to the Club Matador. The artistic director of Kukuxumusu then promptly tore up the poster and he presented the paint brush as a present to the Club. This item is now on show in one of the club rooms - the tool turned into a work of art.

Among those present was the paleontologist Juan Luis Arsuaga and his wife Lourdes, art gallery-owners, Pedro Maisterra and Moisés Pérez de Albéniz, as well as artist, Carlos Irijalba, science writer América Valenzuela, the publicist and artist Rafa Galobart, in addition to artist Jaime Alonso and the cinema director Rafa Cortes, among others. Afterwards, some of the attendance, along with Urmeneta and Rodríguez, went on to have dinner at the club restaurant.

Club Matador is a Project, inspired and incentivized by the club members, who are impelled with the notion of sharing some original and singular ideas. The club has been started up to reflect the spirit of the Club Matador magazine and it aims to become a place where professionals of different ages and backgrounds, of different education and culture, can all enjoy a special space for themselves. President of the club is Alberto Anaut, who is also president of PhotoEspaña and a shareholder of La Fabrica publications and with whom Kukuxumusu collaborated in the lauded republication of the book "Sanfermines" by Ramon Masats.

In the design, which aims to transmit a positive and happy outlook, there is a group of children shown united together in the fight against cancer. Members of the Association will sell the bracelets in order to obtain funds to help defray some of the costs involved in treating this kind of illness.

This present work which we have carried out for Afacmur is yet another phase and quite similar to other earlier collaborations involved in the fight against cancer in children. One of the most recent ones was the design of caps for the campaign, Posa't la gorra, from Afanoc - the Catalonian Association which exists to aid children who suffer from cancer.

Como Fresón de Palos quería tener un detalle con sus fieles consumidores, se les ocurrió sortear 300 tablets y, para que todavía sean más chulas, nos encargaron la imagen de toda la campaña y el diseño de las fundas. Una oveja y un lobo protagonizan la campaña, así que si os toca una de las tabletas, os los tendréis que llevar a casa también, uno por cada lado de la funda.

Además de diseñar la campaña promocional y los envases en los que se distribuyen las fresas, también hemos desarrollado un spot que en breve se colará en vuestras casas a través de la televisión y que os soprenderá y os divertirá, a partes iguales.

Para participar en el sorteo, solo tenéis que comprar algún producto de Fresón de Palos y, después de dar buena cuenta de las fresas, entrar en fresonpromocion.com y rellenar un formulario, así que fijaos bien en la marca cuando vayáis a comprar fresas, que sea Fresón de Palos.

Tenéis tiempo hasta el 25 de mayo. Si os toca, nos avisáis.

Kukuxumusu is now 26 years old and we want to celebrate it will all of you. Go to 26anibestiario.kukuxumusu.com and you can find out that we have picked a lot of drawings for you to vote which one you like the most, that there are t-shirt prizes for all of those who take part and that one lucky person, you for example, will win a weekend trip to San Fermin 2015.

You most probably have loads of questions. So before you jump to it, we will answer them for you.

Why are you celebrating your 26th annibestiary?
Because we forgot our 25th. Not really! We really wanted to celebrate the fact that we have spent years doing drawings and as we felt that celebrating 25th anniversaries is too common, we decided to wait another year and create this hustle that coincides with our 26th Annibestiary. We love the number 26. Can you believe it?

How are you going to celebrate it?
We wanted our followers, both those who had not been born when we were born as well as those who have been with us since the beginning, to be able to take part. As you are always asking us to reprint old t-shirts, we thought it would be interesting to do both. You can take part by voting for your favourite drawings and we reprint the ones with the highest votes so that, if you want, you can get them on our t-shirts.

Can we choose among all of the drawings that you have done over the past 26 years?
No. That would be madness, because last time we counted, there were 7.000 or more. So we have made a selection of 100 and we have divided them into 10 different themes. You may miss some of your favourites, but that may also be because we have only included drawings that aren’t available in stock right now, in other words, legendary drawings that you haven’t seen for a very long time.

Are there prizes?
Of course, there are prizes. Every two weeks you can vote in one of the themes, and those who have participated will enter into a raffle of 3 t-shirts with the drawing that received the highest number of votes. This will happen with each of the different themes. A total of 30 t-shirts. And at the end, for all of those who have taken part, even if it is just in one of the themes, we will carry out a mega raffle with a trip to San Fermin as a prize, for the 10th to the 12th of July 2015. There, you can see where we were born and where we had our first kalimotxo drinks 26 years ago.

I’m not much of a voting person. I don’t vote for absolutely anything, is there another way to take part?
For all of you who are allergic to voting, we have organised a contest for you to tell us an anecdote or a story that you think is interesting or funny and that has something to do with Kukuxumusu. The three most original and funny stories will win a pack of 10 reprinted t-shirts. No made up stories allowed.

In addition to the poster, which this year features lots of sheep and wild boar who are all set for the party scene, we are also responsible for the official merchandizing. So if you find yourself close to Villarrobledo (Albacete) over those festive days, as well as rocking to Rosendo, La Excepción, Los Chichos, Los Suaves, Gatillazo or El Drogas, you can also find us in the form of T-shirts, drawings, and other typical products to be found at these music concerts.

If you fancy going to the festival, you can get your entry tickets at the official web page for 55 euros plus any possible charges that might arise from dealing with ticket sales. And if you want to check out the program to see who is playing, you will find the information on the poster and on the poster you can see that practically everyone who is anyone is there: Boikot, Reincidentes, Def Con Dos, Siniestro Total, La Pulquería, La Mala Rodríguez...

SEE T-SHIRT

We are getting 2015 under way with a treat for our greatest fans: a reprint of one of our bestselling T-shirts of all time, "Neuronas", in collaboration with the science populariser Eduardo Punset.

We have changed the camouflage green background for a fetching blue which looks just as good on him as it does on her, but the picture has not changed: a brain made to look like Punset marvelling at the enticing beauty of a neuron. Science and humour in their purest form, as seen in this video showing Punset trying the T-shirt on.

A few years ago, when this collaboration project with the science populariser with the face of a mad inventor got under way, we asked Punset what Mikel Urmeneta's drawing with the slogan which he himself provided, "Ninguna de tus neuronas sabe quién eres... ni le importa" (None of your neurons knows who you are... nor do they care) meant. He explained it like this: "We are a group of cells which have gradually come together to form a whole. Conscience arrived on the scene at a fairly late stage in the history of evolution and we still don't know how to distinguish it very well".

Now that empathy, multiple intelligences, neuroscience, brain drains, intuition, evolution theory and the like are very much the order of the day, this T-shirt stands as a song to freedom, an invitation to continue discovering the mysteries of life with a humorous slant. We would like to thank Eduard Punset for his untiring enthusiasm when it comes to bringing the complexity of science closer to us lesser mortals and awakening our interest in what on earth goes on inside us, how we can make ourselves happier and how we can "make others happier", as Punset himself recommends in his latest book, "El viaje a la vida" (The journey to life).

The net profit from the sale of this T-shirt will be donated to Fundación Eduard Punset, which aims to promote scientific thought in popular culture, encourage social-emotional learning and provide online psychological support.

The Mural will now be on display on the second floor of this museum. The six hands came from three well-known personalities, Andreu Buenafuente, Pablo Carbonell and Mikel Urmeneta and an extra brain came into play in the form of archeologist Juan Luis Arsuaga who had commissioned the work and who supervised the proceedings. Last Friday, throughout a long day which lasted some nine hours, amid a mixture of paint strokes and many good-humored comments, the visiting public shared laughs and wit with the three personalities as the three artists made a disorderly and chaotic progress with their mural. The finished work has already found wide acceptance and is now on show to all visitors.

On the mural painting three main messages can be read written in bright colors against a black background: "I am your father, pay attention to me", which refers to "Miguelón (The Big Miguel), a skull of some 400.000 years which was found in one of the layers in the site of the bones at Atapuerca; "Excalibur", which refers to the oldest hand hachet ever found up to now dating from prehistoric times; and finally "Somos ADN (We are DNA)" reminding us what we can learn more about ourselves through our human genetic code.

In addition, there are many other elements to be seen on the mural such as mammoths, herds of uros, and hunting scenes. There are also references to human life, to Burgos and to archeologist Juan Luis Arsuaga, of whom the three artists wished to underline his humility with the caption "Don't look at me". The artists also created a drawing to remind the public of the leading role that this archeologist played in creating the museum of human evolution and his key work in uncovering the site of the Sima de los Huesos in Atapuerca.

We also learned last Friday that the Tourism Board of Castilla and León are going to extend the Primitivivos Campaign, which had been made by Kukuxumusu and Bermer&Co for the Museum of Human Evolution on the Alsa coach line and on the underground trains in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao. This campaign aims to convert each visitor in a "Primitivivo" - i.e. a person who is a contemporary of his own time and who lives in a satisfactory and healthy manner but who, at the same time, has an interest in learning about his origins and his evolution down the ages.

Click here to see the mural painting

With our own singular characteristic style, we have created a unique design for the cover as well as a series of illustrations for each month, featuring the dogs as the main protagonists, seen in some humorous everyday situations. In addition, a place has been found to show the sand fly, which is an insect similar to a mosquito but somewhat smaller, and which is the culprit that transmits the illness to the canine population.

Actor and comedian Dani Rovira; Chef Jordi Cruz; footballer Xavi Hernández; actors such as Macarena Gómez, Mónica Estarreado, Megan Montaner and Elsa Anka; Singer and actress Gisela; journalists Helena Resano and Isabel Jiménez; basketball player Rudy Fernández; ex-tennis player, Álex Corretja and ex-footballer Iván de la Peña, will soon be presiding over the waiting rooms of many vetinary clinics across Spain.

On each page of the calendar these well-known personalities appear with their pet dogs and give some advice to dog owners on how to watch out for the dangerous signs of the illness in their dogs, and how to protect their pets from the sting of this phlebotomized mosquito.

The calendar will be only issued to vetinary clinics so that the calendar can be hung up in the waiting rooms and hopefully it will be read by the dog owners when they visit the premises. However, the calendar can also be downloaded in digital form here.

The canine Leishmaniasis is a series and chronic illness which produces diverse injuries to the skin of the animal as well as to its articulations and its eyes and snout and to its renal area. Leishmaniasis does not have a ready cure, so in many cases it can become a mortal illness if its presence is not diagnosed and treated in time.

As could not be otherwise, humour and surprise are the stars of these adverts, in which 10 people appear standing in front of the MEH in photos touched up to include a range of things that our forefathers used to use. And alongside them, a depiction of a caveman. The overall effect is striking. What is a man doing there in bison skins? And a young mother holding a pushchair in one hand and a fire torch in the other?

This comic family is already travelling on a number of coaches belonging to the company Alsa (the ones which link Madrid up with Santander, Bilbao, Burgos, San Sebastián and Vitoria) and will soon be seen in metro stations in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao.

More than 400,000 people visited the Museum designed by the architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg in 2014, a figure which has risen from year to year thanks to the great publicity work carried out by the entire team that works there.

If you have ever wondered when the first human being was born, what life was like a million years ago or if we all come from the same place, then you should take in both the Atapuerca site and Burgos' Museum of Human Evolution. Among other things, you will have the chance to see "Elvis the Pelvis", one of the most complete fossils ever found and one which Kukuxumusu drew on occasion of the 20th anniversary of its discovery for a T-shirt bearing a slogan by Juan Luis Arsuaga, "Un golpe de cadera a la evolución humana" ("Giving a hip shove to human evolution").

The T-shirt is available in the Museum shop and is just one of the things which Kukuxumusu has done in collaboration with the Atapuerca Foundation since 2007.

Kukuxumusu has made fifty drawings which enliven and display the range of brand food from José Andrés Foods. We find sardines dripping in olive oil, mussels which are skilled at knowing their vitamins of B, C and D. We come across a diving chef swimming in search of a top-class sea urchin or meet some of the champion fish of the ocean deep. The series of Kukuxumusu drawings in their entirety show us the best qualities of each type of sea food with their singular humorous vein and, at the same time, let us know about the extensive offer that can be found at the online store of joseandresfoods.com.

The shopping bag (José´s Canvas Market Bag) is currently available at the online store for the price of 10 dollars and the boxes will be used as containers for the food that has been ordered. All across the packaging, an outline impression of the drawings has been stamped on, in silhouette form, in order to let the drawing harmonize with the texture of the supports and, at the same time, give these that added extra that comes from the sketch-work of Kukuxumusu.

The creative director of Kukuxumusu, Mikel Urmeneta, has been actively involved in this project. He also recently worked with José Andrés to develop the image of the new Zarabanda beer which has been put on the market lately. This same chef perfected the recipe of this beer which is made by the Deschutes Brewery and Urmeneta came up with a graphic recipe of this product.

LEER EN ESPAÑOL

A country where you can be murdered for the sake of a peso. That is Honduras. When you put it like that, it is chilling... and heart-rending. But it is no exaggeration. According to official figures released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, an average of 19 people are murdered every day. "Two days in Honduras and already I've seen six murders. What with drug traffickers, gangs, poverty and corrupt elites, this country is bleeding to death" Jon Sistiaga types into his Twitter account.

Most of these deaths have to do with wars between Maras. What are the Maras? Organised gangs which have become the enforcers of the major drug lords over recent years. Honduras is the warehouse for drugs heading for the United States. The Maras are in charge of looking after, moving and distributing it.

For some time now, the Maras have not charged money for these services, but in exchange get drugs, drugs which have to be sold on the local market in their own country. They have become the big narcotraffickers' hitmen. As a result, a ruthless, bloodthirsty war has got under way between rival gangs to secure street corners for their small-scale pushers, areas in which they can control all forms of drug dealing or larger stretches of land which allow them to map routes to transport drugs.

Once again, the reporter Jon Sistiaga has entered deep into one of the pricklier parts of the world to give voice to the victims and hear what the assassins themselves have to say at first hand. This time he needed no interpreters, but he did need to take measures to guarantee his own safety. "It isn't easy to reach the Maras because most of them are in prison. As they say, you don't leave the Maras; you either die or go to jail. Even so, if you are determined, have good contacts and know how to get to them, interviews can be arranged", Sistiaga explains.

"Smile, you're being watched", the policemen escorting Jon Sistiaga and Hernán Zin, the cameraman he shoots his reports with, told them. They were going to meet the boss of the local Mara Salvatrucha 13 clique. What was going on? The reporter tells us: "This guy made me go out into the middle of the street and was watching me from 200 metres away. I never saw him, but he was giving me instructions by telephone: get out into the street, walk around a bit, look up, turn round... He wanted to see me in person before speaking to me and I had to show respect and prove I wasn't afraid".

It was no easy task, but the report was made. Once again, Sistiaga has given the victims, and their executioners, a voice. It is hard to take when you hear a member of the Mara Salvatrucha tell you with utter indifference that he has committed 10 murders and knows he will die young.

As on previous occasions, Kukuxumusu has summed up the report with a drawing: Honduras' most emblematic animal, the jaguar, gun in hand and bleeding. The tattoos on the jaguar are a reference to the Maras, their tattoos and all their victims. A metaphor for what is happening over there. And we have called it "Maras compañías". You can buy this ReporT-shirt and many others from our online store.

The report "Honduras: la mara vida" (Honduras: the mara vida) is to be shown for the first time on Canal+ 1 (Dial 1) on December 10 (http://www.canalplus.es/jon-sistiaga). It will be previewed at Cineteca Madrid at 8.30 pm on December 8 and 9, with Jon Sistiaga in attendance.

LEER EN ESPAÑOL

Some days ago, we let you know about our work on creating a tourist image for Sant Boi, which included a real cool sketch of that city's skyline. Some of you, who seem to be into everything, have written in wondering if we have ever done a sketch of your particular cities. So we have begun delving into our coffer of old drawings to see what we might find there.

Certainly, we have sketches of the Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia skylines, which were put on T-shirts in their day and where you can recognize some of the most emblematic buildings from each of those three cities, such as the Sagrada Familia church, the Puerta de Alcalá Arch or the Micalet Tower.

Bilbao, Donostia and Seville have also been sketched by us, where, respectively, you can find a sketch centered on the Guggenheim, an outline of the famous La Concha beach and finally, for Seville, a drawing of the cathedral located in that city.

These T-shirt drawings should still be available in city-center stores in all those above-mentioned cities. If you wish to know more, we can give you more specific information on request.

Even older sketches were made in their time for other cities such as Lisbon - which just had to include a tramway of course -, also Marseilles, Paris, Ronda or Zaragoza. And, as would be expected, Pamplona in Sanfermin. And indeed, there are others, too many to be mentioned here, but perhaps we can show some more of them on our next trip.

If you feel annoyed because we have not mentioned your city or town, you can get it off your chest by letting us know your feelings here.

Yesterday, this new beer was launched at The Bazaar de Los Angeles restaurant, in the presence of José Andrés himself, alongside the founder of Deschutes Brewery, Gary Fish.

According to what the craft beer experts at Deschutes have told us, Zarabanda is a beer of the Saison type, made with Viennese malt and Spelt and spiced with various ingredients to give the drink an aromatic, fresh and fun-tasting touch. Just the thing for all those, like ourselves, who are always ready to try something new.

Deschutes has been working on this new beer for the past three years and getting collaboration from Spanish chef, José Andrés, who has been resident for the past 25 years in the USA. He is a popular figure on television in the United States and one of the most important chefs in the country, where he also runs a chain of a dozen restaurants of his own creation across the nation.

The image for the beer label as well as the name of the beer spring from the invigorating taste that the drink suggests: joy, fun-loving, originality, etc. As pointed out by Kukuxumusu's creative director, Mikel Urmeneta, "the intention was to create fun-loving label, casual and light-hearted, which would suggest the joyful spirit of Spain and which would also fit in with the bright colors of the 'Jaleo' restaurants founded by José Andrés". In short, a Zarabanda sensation.

The good news for all those people living in The USA is that this new craft beer is now available on the market at the hundreds of premises and establishments where Deschutes Brewery distributes its products. The bad news for the rest of us, who live outside The USA, is that there are no plans, for the moment, to export this new product abroad.

Cheers!