Elle Décor
Textile Appeal, by Leslie Banker

Every time John Robshaw goes to Asia, he comes back with a suitcase filled with ideas—in fabric form. On his first trip to India four years ago, he designed and printed hand-blocked patterns according to the clay-resist technique, which entails applying clay to a woodblock, stamping the undyed cloth, dipping it in indigo, and later washing off the clay to leave the desired pattern in white. Robshaw then traveled to Indonesia, where he learned how to use hot-copper stamps and wax to make batiks, and to Thailand, where he turned his attention to vegetable-dyed ikats. The result: exotic, earth-toned patterns that meld East and West.

He started out selling his cotton and silk prints to such fashion designers as Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein, and soon expanded into window sheers, quilts, tablecloths, and shawls, as well as made-to-order yardage. The enterprise takes him from New York to Asia for half the year, which he spends working side by side with native artisans.

"There are so many more ideas over there," says Robshaw. "I look at traditional designs and edit them. I try to get the essence, but I don't want the patterns to be specifically Indian or Indonesian." He also strives for a handmade look, ironically difficult to achieve because most of the local printers are so highly skilled—and such perfectionists—that their work appears virtually mechanical.