What’s in the material of worship? The literal material?

We sat down with Robert Hoare, the managing director of vestment maker, Watts & Co, to talk about its venerable and sometimes quirky history, and the ancient and unbelieveable craftsmanship of the chasubles, cassocks, copes, surplices, maniples, mitres, stoles, and humeral veils Christian clergy wear today, to lead the people of God into the presence of God.

We’ll hear about commissions for the royal family, the formidable women of Watts & Co, the flood that took out several centuries of hand embroidery, secrets of the craft, how vestments might be attracting young people to church, and our longing for beauty in a world of technologized homogeneity.

Robert Hoare and his sister, Marie-Severine de Caraman Chimay, are fifth-generation owners of Watts.

Listen to the episode now.