Asia-Pacific & European Culture Program

Wool: Yes Sir, Yes Sir, three bags full

Presenter: The Nourishment Projects, Soma Roy

Yes sir, Yes sir, three bags full

In 1379, an Italian was murdered in London. Court documents reveal the murderers’ confessing that they were acting on behalf of their masters — London mayoral and ruling elites — since the victim would have ruined the wool merchants in London.

For fourteen years, Geoffrey Chaucer had been a controller of the wool custom in the Port of London. In his Shipman's Tale, the chapman, a trader — unsettled and distracted by far-flung enterprises, humiliated by his wife’s sexual escapades — laments: ‘… evermore, we live our lives in dread of loss & fortune in our chapmanhood’.

Wool is one of the most resilient, ecological and sustainable natural fibers in the world. It is used in the creation of beautiful garments by luxury brands such as Hermes and Loro Piana. Though fireproof, this commodity has historically set the trading world ablaze with terms that are relevant to our modern ears : one percenters, speculative deals, xenophobia, protectionist tariffs, foreign competition, currency crisis. History repeats itself. Join us as we spin an international yarn about this marvelous material and we promise not to pull the wool over your eyes.