JOHN ROCHA

My life is about family and friends as well as work.

During fashion week, I dream about fashion; afterwards, I dream about fishing. After fashion week, I always go fishing to wind down.

I never set out to do interior design; I just do what I do, and some people come along and want me to work with them.

I'm a British designer, and it's great to show on your own ground.

I can speak Cantonese, but I can't speak about fashion - I learnt all my fashion in Europe, so often, during interviews in Chinese I just don't know the right word - it can be very hard to explain things.

I want to explore my design philosophy in different mediums, and I'm very interested in architecture.

We cater for fashion-conscious people.

I have no idea why, but I find that men make more of an impact on me in films than women - even very beautiful ones.

Unfortunately, I used to play in goal, and I broke my hand. Two fingers. The ball hit me and bent my fingers back. I used to play every Sunday. I was quite competitive.

I can tell you every element of every single look from each collection - one to 30 - without looking at a picture: my label is all done by me.

My most precious possession is a 13.5-feet-long fishing rod, made by an American firm called Loomis.

I turned my hand to costume design a few years ago when I created the outfits for 'This Is the Sea,' with Richard Harris and Samantha Morton. It's a very different discipline to being a fashion designer, though - you have to rein in your own vision and work to a tight brief.

I still love Birkenstocks. I just think they are the most comfortable things; I even wear them in winter sometimes.

I love fashion, but fashion is not my whole life.

Chinese people have that superstitious fix - people always do feng shui when they are opening a shop; even the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank pays people to do feng shui for them.

I'm like a conductor. I come up with ideas, and I get all these people to make great music together. I have a team of really talented assistant designers. I have architects in my office. People I trained from the beginning in menswear, womenswear, and home. I have a great team who know what I want and feel and translate that into beautiful results.

When I was young, we always went to our posh cousins at Christmas. My dad made sure we had new shoes and clean clothes - he was really proud - and that's why I felt different from everyone living around me. We had the first television on the estate, the first fridge.

Your 30s is the time to embrace bold, zingy colour patterns and to follow trends while taking time to get used to what really suits you.

There was the Cultural Revolution just over the border, and Hong Kong felt quite dodgy. My younger brother's wife actually swam from China to Hong Kong to escape. I realised in the '60s that I had to get out.

Fashion is instant - after six months, it disappears, and you have to start again. That's the nature of it.

Fashion remains closest to my heart. I get genuinely excited by my collections - I never wanted to be a businessman.

Men like clothes they can wear to work and afterwards. They don't want things to be complicated.

To create a beautiful thing with unlimited money is easy!

I used to play football, and then my wife bought me a fishing rod.

I think natural fibers look better over time. The more you wear them, they look even better.