JOHN Rocha will be 43 in August, but the award winning designer has no thoughts of moving quietly into middle age.
Rocha, whose recent British show was "the hottest ticket" in London Fashion Week, intends to open a flagship store on Grafton Street in August. The move will make him the first Irish based designer to open a showroom on the State's premier retail street for two decades. He jokes that he used to contemplate retirement at 50, but that now he has put it off to 55 at least.
The new shop will stock several collections of his clothes, aimed at people with varying budgets and also a new Rocha designed range of home furnishings, including his newly created range of Waterford Crystal.
Ironically, although he lives and works in Dublin, Rocha's garments have not been on sale in Ireland for the past year. He severed his link with the A Wear chain 18 months ago, and his last two collections were not stocked by A Wear's parent company Brown Thomas.
The new retail venture, which is two doors from Bewleys, is a huge investment, even for a designer as famous as John Rocha. More than £250,000 was paid in key money, while the initial rent is £120,000 per year. One retail expert believes the cost of fitting the shop will be a further £300,000, bringing the initial investment to almost £750,000.
To break even it is estimated that annual sales will have to be in the region of £1.5 million, and some in the fashion world are sceptical that the store will make money.
Rocha admits the shop represents a very sizeable investment" but believes it will pay off. "I have a substantial following in this country," he says. But with the bitter experience of two previous business failures he is keen to stress that he and his associates are not rushing into the new venture. "We are not doing everything in a hurry," he says.
But he does have the luxury of knowing that his current backers have deep pockets. The main investors in his business are John and Frank Gleeson, the brothers of Mr Rocha's wife and business partner Odette Gleeson.
She is also his muse, as Rocha agrees that all his women's designs are created with Odette in mind. The menswear is designed for himself, "something I'd wear if I was taller or skinnier or younger". The couple live in Ranelagh with their two children. Rocha also has a child from his previous marriage.
When asked who owns the company Rocha politely declines to reveal the exact share holding. However, it is thought that the Gleesons have a stake of 75 to 80 per cent, while Rocha and Odette own the rest.
The Gleeson brothers main business is commodity broking, and they are said to be jointly worth at least £20 million. John now acts as chairman of Rocha's business while Frank is based in Paris.
The pair are best known for investing in Larry Goodman's meat company which was bought from a group of creditor banks last year. The Gleesons now own 14 per cent of Goodman's company Irish Food Processing.
John Rocha was born in Hong Kong, the son of a Portuguese father and a Chinese mother. He grew up speaking the languages of both parents and English, and left home at 17. His linguistic background and subsequent travels have given the designer an almost unique accent, plus the highly endearing habit of abridging sentences by dropping words that others might deem essential.
A classic Rocha-ism is the description of his education: "I go to Christian Brother school. These are tough bastard I tell you, but it give you discipline in life".
He became interested in fashion against the wishes of his parents who thought it "too airy fairy". After a one year fashion foundation course in Hong Kong he left for London and, in part due to family pressure, trained as a psychiatric nurse. He then attended Croydon Art College where he met his first wife, Eily Doolan.
The couple subsequently set up business in Kilkenny, and outside financial backing helped them expand and shops were opened in Dublin and Cork. The clothes were highly praised and sold well. But the couple's partnership - both professional and private - ended in a bitter nine day High Court hearing.
He started a new company, Chinatown, with Odette, who subsequently became his wife. Again business appeared good, but in 1988 the company went bust with debts of £257,000.
He still feels he let everybody down but was subsequently able to repay all creditors. He and Odette left for Italy but returned to Ireland after an agreement with A Wear allowed Rocha to design an inexpensive range for sale in the shops under the Chinatown label and sell a more expensive collection under the John Rocha name.
The partnership worked well, and the business expanded, capturing increasing media attention. Three years ago he won the coveted British Designer of the Year Award, the zenith of his career to date according to some observers. He subsequently severed links with A Wear and backed by the Gleesons set up a new £500,000 workshop in Dublin's Temple Bar.
Last month Rocha returned to London, the scene of his greatest triumph, after showing his collection in Paris for three seasons. Rocha says that he has decided London is his natural home. However, others point to the fact that mounting a show in Paris costs up to £90,000 while a similar event in the British capital costs a mere £25,000.
Rocha says the company's turnover is almost £5 million, and that production will be increased by up to 75 per cent next year to cope with booming exports and the new shop. However, other fashion industry figures said his sales are about £2.5 million.
Rocha says he concentrates on designing and leaves the business to others. "Fashion is like a four legged table: you need a good designer, a very good business manager, a good manufacturer, and a very good distributor. Without all the legs, table collapses.
With the £750,000 Grafton Street investment on the horizon, Rocha and his associates may need to beware of woodworm.