El Espiritu del Lúgubre

El Espiritu del Lúgubre began in 1998 (from Burgos, Spain) with the philosophy of "re-newing" folk music and make it more accessible to the public of the 21st century.

The result of this are the original compositions, instrumental and lyrical arrangements, all backed by a range of instruments, among which stands out especially the mixing with trikitixa, 12-string acoustic guitar, accordion and bagpipes. Something unheard of until now.

With folk music having it's roots in the rural parts of Spain, how would it be possible not to die out when rural life itself dies out, diminishes every day if not already extinct?

The group has been one of the revelations of recent years, performing in some of the renowned festivals:

Celtic World Festival at Ortigueira, International Folk Festival of Plasencia, Castilla Folk Festival, Fringe Theatre Festival among others.

The Espiritu del Lúgubre is a breath of fresh air in the folk scene.  

A cult band with a weird name and good advocates for the beret! Free music downloadable from the web site.

Héctor Elizondo

Héctor Elizondo (born December 22, 1936) is an American actor. Elizondo's first major role was that of "God" in the play Steambath, for which he won an Obie Award. Since then Elizondo has participated in over eighty films and has made numerous television appearances, including his Emmy Award-winning role on the series Chicago Hope.

Elizondo was born in New York City, the son of Carmen Medina Reyes and Martín Echevarría Elizondo, a notary public and accountant. His parents moved from Puerto Rico to New York City, with the hope of finding a better way of life. His paternal grandfather was a Basque from Spain, and his maternal grandparents were from the Canary Islands.

He is probably best known to the television audience as Dr. Phillip Watters on the CBS television series Chicago Hope created by well known television creator David E. Kelley. He has won both an Emmy and ALMA award and was nominated for a Satellite Award and several SAG Awards for playing this role. He is one of only two people to remain on the show for its entire run, the other being Adam Arkin.

Héctor Elizondo is an adept of military style berets and yes, I think they look pretty good on him too.

Stéphane Prieur

Meet Stéphane Prieur, a lawyer from Toulouse (longing for his hill in the Gers) with a heart for painting and photography.

Stéphane Prieur

Despite having his own web site, Mr Prieur doesn't give information on himself easily. Let the paintings speak for themselves then:

New: Basco Grande Piatto

Basco Grande Piatto

These "Grande Piatto" are Italy's answer to the French Tarte, the Basque Txapeldun and the Argentinean Plato Grande. 

Large (320mm/12.6") diameter berets in pure new wool. Extremely soft and comfortable. As a try-out, presently available in a very limited stock at $ 40.00 only. 

Have a look in the 'One-Off's' section.

Alan Brough

Alan Brough (b. Hawera, New Zealand 1967) is a New Zealand-born actor and comedian based in Australia.

Brough worked as an actor in Wellington and Auckland, mainly in live theatre. He also appeared in a series of butter commercials as a drag queen called Marge. In 1993, Brough appeared in the New Zealand sitcom Melody Rules (best described as "cringeworthy").

In 2012, Brough began performing the role of Baron Bomburst in the Australian production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (musical).

Javi Cabrero, by 'Gol'

Javi Cabrero is a Spanish comic book character from Vitoria (Extremadura), permanently wearing a black vest and Basque beret. 

Javi Cabrero's stories are set in La Vera North of Cáceres. Because of the financial crisis and economic hardship, Cabrero has become unemployed, after his father had to sell the goats.

Author of Javi Cabrero is Miguel Gómez Andrea, or under his nom de guerre "Gol", comic-book writer and illustrator, actor and playwright.

His career is split between comics and theater, with a common denominator, historical disclosure.

Gol has over forty titles published by independent publishers and institutions.

Austin J40, 1953

Driver of a 1953 Austin J40, with beret.

Redmond O'Hanlon

Redmond O'Hanlon, FRGS, FRSL (born 5 June 1947) is a British writer and scholar.

O'Hanlon has become known for his journeys into some of the most remote jungles of the world, in Borneo, the Amazon basin and Congo. He has also written a harrowing account of a trip to the North Atlantic on a trawler.

Redmond O'Hanlon, Suzanne Uittenbogaard

Between September 2009 and May 2010, Redmond O'Hanlon was a guest and co-presenter on the programme Beagle: In Darwin's wake for both Canvas in Belgium and VPRO Television in the Netherlands. In the programme, the clipper Stad Amsterdam re-traced the route that Charles Darwin took aboard HMS Beagle (1831–36), a journey that played a seminal role in his thinking on evolution.

He attended the Science & Technology Summit at the World Forum Convention Center in The Hague on 18 November 2010. Fellow Beagle shipmate Sarah Darwin was another featured guest at this convention.

In November 2011 VPRO Television began broadcasting O'Hanlons helden (English: O'Hanlons heroes). In this eight-part series O'Hanlon introduces the viewer to his heroes of the nineteenth century.

New at South Pacific Berets

Cotton Plato Grandes without headband

Good news for those in the northern hemisphere: the new stock of cotton boinas Tolosa Tupida is in; a large variety of colours in both standard 31cm diameters and 35cm Plato Grandes. Great sun protectors and absolute bestsellers in Australia. 

Cotton boinas Tolosa Tupida 31cm

Also, a good number of these cotton berets with Moroccan leather headband in black, red and sun-washed blue cotton.

Plato Grande in Argentine merino wool, 32cm

And after a long wait, the Plato Grandes in light merino wool are also back, in sizes 58-61. Better still, at a reduced price!

Radiovka's and Ultra Basques

Further, the Czech made Radiovkas, Ultra Basques and Service Stars have been reduced in price.

Service Star

The Making of a DEER Beret

Asked for more information on the DEER Berets, Kongo-Shokai, the manufacturer, made this fantastic series of photographs: the whole manufacturing process of their berets.
Not only gives it a very detailed and intimate impression of how these berets are made, it also shows the artisan way how real hand made berets come into being. 
To me, it also explains the (relatively high) cost of these berets; so much manual work, handling, checking, procedures... 
I have said it before, there are not many berets that can compete with these DEER Berets on comfort, craftsmanship and eye for detail. 
Highly recommended!

Beret knitting machine

Closing (or 'linking') the beret

"Rough" beret with the closing thread (txortena) visible

The washing machine, where berets are shrunk in 70 - 80 minutes

Pre- and post-washing and drying

Dying the berets

The individual beret is, after being dunked in hot water, wrapped in a wet cloth before going through the fulling machine (4 times), to compress the fibers 

Fulling in progress

Beret after fulling

Preparing the beret for brushing and shearing

Brushing of the beret

Shearing the beret

Before and after shearing

Blocking the beret, pre-steaming

Beret blocks in the steamer

A string is attached pre-steaming to get the right size

The beret post-steaming

Headband fitted, the final product.

Many thanks to Yumiko for her fantastic help!