Although circumstances took us to the hills and to the border between the towns of Astigarraga and Errentería, from the start Mugaritz's logo and name soundly placed us in a border region and defined our way of being.

With the help of designer Santos Bregaña, our logo captures the idea of shifting back and forth between traditional and contemporary gastronomy by giving prominence to the two-hundred-year-old oak whose shade we work under every day. Our name, which blends the Basque words muga (border) and aritz (oak), turned out to be prophetic.

Borders define Mugaritz today, just as they did in 1998. They define the pairing of gastronomy and science, and our relationship to philosophy, music, theatre and dance.

We will never know if Mugaritz is what it is today because our name and our logo marked our identity, or whether it would have grown into what it is today regardless.