Me and my kit
John Rocha, the designer, travels with plenty of T-shirts and his camera at the ready
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Your support makes all the difference.I travel a lot, and have learned to bring one suit, jeans, and lots and lots of T-shirts. That way I can be smart if I go somewhere nice for dinner, and then have lots of functional clothes to wear by day. I also make sure I take tablets for headaches and hangovers, and I take a camera - just a point-and-shoot. It's to record my holiday, and also to take pictures of things for inspiration.
I travel a lot, and have learned to bring one suit, jeans, and lots and lots of T-shirts. That way I can be smart if I go somewhere nice for dinner, and then have lots of functional clothes to wear by day. I also make sure I take tablets for headaches and hangovers, and I take a camera - just a point-and-shoot. It's to record my holiday, and also to take pictures of things for inspiration.
I usually take a book. I like biographies. At the moment I'm reading the Richard Branson biography, which I find interesting as I was involved in designing the Virgin uniform. I try to get my clothes in hand baggage, to cut down on waiting time at the other end. Frankly, when I go on business travel I just try to get home as quickly as possible to see my children, who are 14 and 11 years old respectively.
I tend to go on two types of holiday. Firstly, we take family holidays: on the last one we went to Vietnam and Hong Kong, where I lived until I was 17. I've lived in Dublin for 21 years now, and the countryside is fantastic in Ireland. For 10 years we've been going to Ballymaloe House in County Cork.
Then I also take a fishing holiday with two fishing friends. We like to choose an exotic place - last year we went fly fishing in British Columbia and I caught a 15-pound salmon. The year before we were in Alaska, and this year we're hoping to go bone-fishing in Cuba, which I've never tried before.
The Morrison Hotel in Dublin is the first hotel I've been involved with, and I did the interior decoration. I've now got another couple of hotels in the pipeline, where I will design everything. But I haven't designed luggage - yet.
John Rocha is the designer behind the Morrison Hotel in Dublin's North Quay. Known primarily as a fashion designer, he now does a lot of interiors and architectural work. He has designed a business park in Sandyfoot, Dublin, which opens this week and a 1930s-vintage residential block in Liverpool, which will open in April. He has designed a range of clothes for Debenhams.
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