The Ritz-Carlton
Sewing What He Reaps
by Dennis McCafferty

Perhaps you're shopping at your local Neiman Marcus, or visiting a high-end fashion showroom in London, New York, Singapore, San Francisco or Los Angeles. Or maybe you're dining at one of the finest restaurants in Dubai. Wherever you are, it's very likely that the artistry of John Robshaw has captured your eye. He's considered one of the world's most innovative designers of textile block prints, showcased internationally in fashion, bedding and decorative displays.

His success is the result of a decade's worth of global exploration and inspiration. After earning a fine arts degree in 1994 at Pratt Institute in New York, Robshaw went to China to study traditional block printing, and further developed this skill in India. In 1996 he sold his first designs to Calvin Klein, who was interested in batik, a wax printing tradition made famous in Indonesia. (Klein introduced it into his product lines for women's scarves and dress prints.) Robshaw's signature style emerged, taking an artists's eye for vivid colors, patterns and textures and applying it to traditional block printing. The results have been showcased in such magazines as Oprah's O, Martha Stewart Living, Architectural Digest and Vogue.

In 1999 Robshaw launched his New York–based company, John Robshaw Textiles, and he now divides his time among Manhattan (where he operates a showroom near Chelsea), and Asia and India, where his factories are located. No corner of the world can be too obscure. Robshaw can often be found in the heart of villages everywhere—perhaps block-printing a sarong in Java with four generations of local craftsmen.

Robshaw is also an avid volunteer for Aid to Artisans, traveling globally every year to support the non-profit group, which is dedicated to creating economic opportunities for craftspeople in developing nations. For Aid, he has traveled to Vietnam, Cambodia, Zimbabwe and Bolivia. In a recent chat with The Ritz-Carlton, he discussed an exotic Egyptian getaway, high-end spa treatments in Thailand, and the best way to eat shrimp in a Korean market: while it's still alive.

The Ritz-Carlton//What's your all-time favorite trip?
John Robshaw//I went to Egypt in Christmas 2003 and it was wonderful. I went through all of the oasis towns. You ride through the desert in a Range Rover up and down the dunes. You have a picnic of hummus, dates and falafel in the middle of nowhere, and then you suddenly drive up to a hot spring and go swimming. You visit old ruins. Then, you go to Cairo and see the great mosques. And the Cairo National Museum is incredible. That's where King Tutankhamen is now. You go into a darkly lighted room and all of his gold is there. The glow of the gold fills the room. It's overwhelming to the senses.

A great trip doesn't have to be that spectacular, though. I love Thailand, and always discover soemthing new there. Like a great, new Italian-Asian fusion restaurant. I just had a lovely meal there—a beef-ginger chili dish with a mango martini. Then, you find one of these wonderful day spas that are opening up there and they're such a great value. For less than $300, you can get a three-hour treatment: seaweed wrap, mud facial and massage. These spas are popping up all over the Bangkok.

The Ritz-Carlton//How much of an effort will you make to check out a textile designer while you're overseas?
John Robshaw//Oh, I'll go to textile dealers in any kind of setting. The little guys with the tiny shops. The street vendors. Cambodia can be a pretty raw experience. You go to some market, and there's a tiny little lady running a vendor stall. She gets all excited when you come and insists that you hop on the back of her motorbike and she takes you to her compound. There you sit on the floor, drink tea and go through stacks and stacks of wonderful textiles.

The Ritz-Carlton//You're very dedicated to Aid to Artisans. What experiences have really touched you on these trips?
John Robshaw//There are so many. In Bolivia, we've started a project with the traditional Tarabuco community of weavers. We're helping them by updating their work. We've added a different sense of color and design so they can bring it to American trade shows and build a business out of it. We know they're incredible weavers. They can create an entirely new alternative universe filled with animals and people and demons with what they weave. We're telling them that it's amazing, but we just need to rework it a bit, brighten it up and make it look like something my mom would buy. These are villagers in the middle of the highlands of Bolivia, farming for potatoes. They'd really like to see what they can do commercially with their craft to build a stronger income. They're hungry for this kind of development. In Thailand, there was one woman who was part of a big group we worked with, and they got a huge order. She was so excited. She simply had to show me the refrigerator she was able to buy. That's when you realize how big an impact you can make in someone else's life.

The Ritz-Carlton//When traveling, what can't you leave home without?
John Robshaw//My iPod. I have 100 albums on it. I have blues, Indian music and classical music on it. There's nothing like jumping out of an airplane in Delhi while listening to Indian music. It gets you into the spirit and flavor of the country. I also always wear a cashmere sweater in transit, because the airplanes are cold. And I pack a snorkeling mask. If I'm anywhere near a beach, I'm going to snorkel for a couple days. I love the Maldives, just off the tip of India. They're islands in the middle of nowhere. The water is so blue and the sand is so white, you don't believe that it's real.

The Ritz-Carlton//What are some other tips for travelling light?
John Robshaw//You never need to pack as many trousers as you think. And if you buy something, just ship it home. You can ship anything from anywhere these days.

The Ritz-Carlton//What's the most memorable exotic food you've been offered?
John Robshaw//I had live shrimp in a Korean fish market. I mean, I ate shrimp while they were still alive. It's one of those things where you're drinking rice wine in a market, and they bring you a whole plate of these live shrimp. You break off the head. You break off the tail. And you dip it into some chili sauce. But you do need to drink rice wine before doing it.