Those who have met John Rocha, or experienced his work . . . whether in fashion, interiors, or building projects . . . will know which category this most un-assuming of designers is more likely to slot into. His new Dublin studio, set in a five-storey Georgian house within an elegant terrace, is as serene as the man himself, and the absence of clutter or noise does seem like the place to get down to some serious creative work. It's here that the prototypes for all of his projects begin . . . the basement functions as a large sample room . . . while the fashion collections are made in Italy.

Rocha and his team moved in last Christmas and things were hectic at the start with preparations for London Fashion Week in February taking precedence over the niceties of creating his studio 'home from home'. But this honorary Irishman . . . by way of Hong Kong and London . . . is well aware that re-charging the proverbial batteries is as important for the designer as it is for any of us. 'Gone fishin' could be his signature tune, whether it's heading to the cool rivers and lakes of Mayo or even to Alaska, and increasingly these days, in the company of his 16-year-old son.

"I still love to go fishing, at least three or four times a year, and my son Max comes with me whenever possible. Between now and June, before the autumn fashion collections get underway, I won't work weekends, because from July on it will be back to seven-days-aweek work, well into the night. So I take as many opportunities for holidays as I can, with Odette and the family. That way, I feel I can really concentrate on work. I prefer to work with my heart fully in it."

Putting his heart into it has kept Rocha's name up there for the past three decades, even during the bad days in the l980s when his first marriage ended, and when he was nearly bankrupt at one stage. But he never lost the design talent for taking the organic nature and structure of things, from fabric, stone, glass or an entire building, and re-creating something stylish and simple. His creations go beyond the visual charm, driven by an aim to make things that are a joy to wear, to use, or to live in.

The first floor of the new Dublin studio is where Rocha's office is and the place where all these ideas take initial shape. Architectural details are given full rein throughout the building, from the 12-paned Georgian sash windows beaming natural light onto the dark-stained original floors and through a series of high-ceilinged rooms whose white walls are the backdrop to a collection of large, abstract canvases. The architraves of the doors also act as frames to the rooms and halls beyond where there is the quiet industry of Rocha's team of pattern cutters, architects and product designers.

Rocha doesn't work on a huge number of interior design projects generally, and is best known here for his collaborations on the Morrison Hotel and the Beacon Court mixed development. His philosophy is very simple in terms of interiors. "I imagine what it would be like to live there myself, basically. It's very much the same principle whatever the project, but not just to take the high fashion approach of 'here today, gone tomorrow'. I think it's very healthy now in design generally. People don't put you in a box anymore and accept that you have something to say about certain things. If the end product is good, they don't get too hung up on which type of designer you are."

Since his arrival in Dublin in the late l970s, Rocha has striven, in his fashion design initially, to work with the craftspeople who have a tradition that has endured for centuries, whether it's crochet, the manufacture of Irish linen, or woven textiles. It was that focus of combining craft with his own signature, simple modernity, that attracted the attention of Waterford Crystal 11 years ago, and in turn, set him exploring other design possibilities in interiors' architecture and homewares.

We sit at an extended glass table that he designed over a decade ago, and where he discovered a keen interest in using this most difficult of materials. "Glass is so brittle and hard, yet it yields such light and clarity, so of course I was attracted to where I could take it in terms of design."

Fashion designers working with brands is commonplace nowadays, but at that time, Rocha was one of the first to do so. He admits that he was surprised to be approached by such a traditional company as Waterford Crystal. "That's how everything else happened really. Up until then, I was quite happy to do what I do as fashion designer. Waterford approached me out of the blue, and then I thought 'yeah, I'll give it a try and see where it goes'."

John Foley, now managing director of the company, spotted Rocha's talent for giving craft skills a fresh, modern appeal, and felt that could be employed in turn to the dated 'china cabinet' image of crystal, thereby attracting a growing market of young homeowners.

"I think he felt that when you are working in an industry all of the time, you think in the same straight lines, and that perhaps it was time to bring someone like me in from the outside with a fresh eye, " says Rocha. "He saw that I had a feeling for glass . . . having seen this table . . . and so we set to work on crystal collections that have constantly developed since."

It didn't all happen overnight of course, and it was another two years before the first ranges of glasses, lighting, tableware and vases appeared in l997. Rocha is noted for his limited colour palette, with black and cream being enduring favourites. It was probably inevitable that he was going to come up with the crystal equivalent of the LBD (little black dress) . . . but the company weren't having any of it at the start.

Black crystal? Surely a contradiction, was the reaction. "It just seemed a natural progression for me and I said 'why don't we create black crystal?'. The reaction was that if you create it in black, you take away the sparkle, the light. You can't see the crystal. They were quite reluctant. It took a long time to convince everyone it would work, and it then took two years to develop the right technique. Eventually, I came up with a special diamond cut which is quite opulent and rich . . . and very different from the original concept. That changed the company's point of view and their objections. As it turned out, the Black Cut range has become one of the most successful designs of all for the company."

Apart from his twice yearly fashion collections and ongoing product design with Waterford, Rocha is involved in the next phase launch of the Crosby Homes' development of apartments at the Orion Building in Birmingham. He is also completing an interiors' project involving 90 apartments in Budapest, while a special project closer to home is the interior design of an apartment to be auctioned in aid of the Hospice Foundation at a charity event in the autumn.

If it sounds that such diverse design work could lead to creativity being stretched to breaking point, Rocha says the opposite is true, especially now that interiors, lifestyle and fashion is "meshed into one". In a way, not unlike our newly multi-cultural capital, he adds.

"Obviously, fashion is still my main focusand that's all about now and what happens next. It takes a lot of gut reaction to what the general air and mood is, and it demands a quick turnaround. Crystal and interiors is a more long-term thing, and it's great to have the balance between those different disciplines. I'm very lucky to be able to mix all of those things and it helps to keep the work fresh.

"Being surrounded by people who get excited about the work feeds into that too. We have people from England, Germany, Australia, Poland . . . and Ireland of course . . . all working here in this building. It's like a microcosm of how Dublin is now, and very different from how it was 20 years ago. I'm very involved in Sport Against Racism and aware that there is a nervousness out there with regard to the new Irish. But long term, it will be wonderful.

We need to open up, to learn from each other and then it will be a truly beautiful place here."

FROM HONG KONG TO DUBLIN

JOHN Rocha was born in Hong Kong in 1953, to a Chinese mother and Portuguese father. He grew up in a small two-bed apartment with his extended family, including his grandmother, a dressmaker.

In the early 1970s, Rocha came to London, initially to train as a psychiatric nurse, but left to complete a fashion degree at Croydon College of Art and Design. He won a scholarship and came to Ireland at the end of the l970s, marrying and setting up in business with Eily Doolan, whom he met in college. The marriage subsequently broke up in the l980s; the couple have a daughter, Zoe, now 23.

While designing for the Chinatown label, Rocha met Odette Gleeson, who now works closely with him on the womenswear collections. The couple married in l990 and have two children, Simone (19) and Max (16).

Rocha was awarded a CBE for his contribution to fashion in the Queen's Honours' List in 2002; he was voted British Designer of the Year in l994.

His womenswear, menswear, childrenswear and homewares collections are stocked in over 130 stores worldwide, including his Designers at Debenhams ranges and the John Rocha at Waterford Crystal collections . . . the latest of which are the Voya and Lume wine glasses in lightweight, diamond-cut crystal.