But for Helen James, after almost a decade living amidst the speed, noise and demands of the long working hours of the big city, she felt it was time to shift down a gear.

Restoring a period farmhouse in rural Ireland, the school run and just having time to think and breathe held strong appeal. She returned to live in Ireland three years ago. While the shock of 11 September had a certain impact on that decision to leave New York, it was more to do with a desire to give her young sons Obi (7) and Luan (5) more space and freedom. She had met husband Mark Geary in New York in l997 and they married in 2000.

"We lived in the East Village and I loved it while I was there, but as time went on, I felt it just wasn't the place to bring up kids. I had built up a working relationship with a number of fashion stores here, in the year before we moved back, so it wasn't quite the wrench that it might have been. As well, the business of finding a house wasn't that difficult either and I practically bought it online.

"I had been checking properties on the internet, and spotted this farmhouse just outside the village of Castlepollard, Co Westmeath. It was important for me to be somewhere that wasn't engulfed in rows and rows of houses, yet I didn't want to be too far removed from everything either.

"We don't have a connection to the area, but just simply liked the fact that the house was in a small country village and that it had lots of space around it.

There was that sense of history too, as the house was on the original Pollard estate and had been the farm steward's home at one time.

"It's based on the traditional two-up, two-down country cottage, only much larger, and has bigger windows which fill the rooms with natural light. That definitely appealed to me, that feeling of space and light in the house, the views looking out over the fields, and the garden that runs all the way around."

Although it sounds like the rural idyll, with her studio attached to the house, Helen says it's a lifestyle that certainly wouldn't have suited her as a young graduate back in the early 1990s, when opportunities here for designers were thin on the ground. Also, unlike the rigid convention of the Dublin of those years, there was the sense of adventure, of experimentation, in a city like New York, where a young enthusiastic artist could breathe that air of confidence.

"When I left the National College of Art and Design in l992, there really wasn't any such thing as a career for a textile designer in Dublin. There just wasn't the industry here, there wasn't the money. It's much easier to get into something like that when living in a city where you are completely unjudged and not afraid of failure . . . as you might be in your own home town. You are more prepared to take the risk, are more uninhibited and, in that sense, you find your artistic way."

Her use of beautiful fabrics in a collection of accessories, chiefly wraps, scarves and handbags, began to find favour. Through a friend, Eileen Shields, a shoe designer, Helen worked for the Donna Karan studio, while also continuing with her freelance projects and also painting . . . all of which fed into the creative process for her own range of signature hand-painted textiles which she sold throughout the US.

There is a hint of the elegant simplicity of line that defines oriental art in her work too, and in her designs of obi (Japanese sash) belts and kimonos in particular. The most obvious link is her early childhood . . . Helen grew up in a house in the grounds of the Chester Beatty Library, where her father was a curator, in its former location on Shrewsbury Road in Dublin 4.

"My Dad was involved with work in the Islamic centre of the library and I lived there until I was 12. It was a very creative environment, and the house was often filled with artists and poets.

That must have had an influence on my work, but it's not something I'm hugely conscious of, or something I drawn on exclusively."

Just as a musician will say that the music is the space between the notes, space is also an important factor in oriental art and Helen admits she admires the way the Chinese, in particular, were not afraid of that space.

She also doesn't let herself be rushed by the fashion world's incessant demand for the latest trend in the creation of a new collection each season, but rather creates her own timeless classics with maybe just a subtle change of colour or pattern in the hand painted finish.

Helen's current accessories collection has grown to include rather lovely tops, a delicately painted silk shrug, plus belts, bags and scarves.

With her studio attached to her restored farmhouse, it all sounds like the perfect work/life balance has been sussed. The demands of a young family are a huge factor in her life now, with Helen and Mark encouraging the boys creatively yet keeping work strictly separate.

"I did my college thesis on the comparison between the working life of sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth . . . one completely free from childcare responsibilites, the other a full-time working mother. Now I'm finding out that it's a hard one to call . . .

should I let the boys near the studio or not? But I'd like them to have that artistic freedom that I had too, and finding that balance is all part of the fun."

www. helen-james. com Stockists of Helen's designs include Costume and Five Scarlet Row, Dublin; Juju, Greystones; Ella Maria, Limerick; Melie B, Killaloe and Design House, Galway