Fabric Obsession
Working with patterns and colors from all over the globe, John Robshaw creates the unmistakable feeling of home

In his days as a young fashion house courier, shepherding sequins from Paris to Bombay to be applied to dresses, John Robshaw fell in love with the visual splendor of India. Today he shares that ardor with his fans, which include top interior designers like Michael S. Smith and Jeffrey Bilhuber as well as models and starlets. Robshaw's block-printed fabrics, hand-made in Jaipur, reinterpret traditional Indian motifs, and he continues to find inspiration in daring hues like bright apple green and hot pink. "The more you travel, the more you understand colors you never thought you could," he explains. The result is exotic but comfortingly accessible. "Designers tend to use my fabrics in vacation homes, because they are light and airy and speak of faraway places," he says. His latest designs may change that, with metallic inks printed on fine, more formal douppioni silk. Are they a sign that Robshaw is settling down? Hardly. "It's a great big visual world," he says. "I'm a junkie, out there getting hits as often as I can."