She wouldn't have it any other way. For someone who shunts between New York and New Delhi with a two-year-old daughter Ananya, Namrata Joshipura loves the benefits of having the best of both worlds. She admits that even with NY being a state-of-art fashion city, she is charged by New Delhi which is buzzing with new trends and events. Absorbing contemporary fashion by osmosis in NY, translating it into her work and observing the marathon that Indian fashion has just begun, keep this young designer going.

All of these came together for the Fall collection, 'The Dark Hour,' inspired by the lines, 'I love you, but I've chosen darkness.' Moving away from her earlier organic collections, this range saw a shift that reflects Joshipura's fascination with architecture. "All of us have a little dark side to us that comes out occasionally," she elaborates, "so I thought this was the correct time to take this forward. But it is not dreary or dull, or depressing, just intense."

Motherhood is something she finds extremely satisfying. In spite of the tight balancing act between her personal and professional life, Joshipura finds she has now become more sensitive and has extra energy. "My work is my baby as much as my daughter is," says this National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) graduate, "I have no time to waste. When people ask me how I manage - two continents, a baby and a business - I tell them that my day is very slotted; my weeks, months, the year, everything is planned. Very often, one overlaps into the other's space, but I quickly realise that I have to undo that and then need to focus. I bring my daughter to the office quite often. Even if I cannot give her my undivided attention, I am happy just to see her around." She has a supportive husband with a strong sense of design, who also happens to be in the fashion industry, albeit on the business side. Though he 'gets left alone very often', he helps Joshipura maintain her balancing act.

Surprisingly, the petite designer, who is a member of Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), hardly ever sports anything from her own label. Like a chef who has had enough of matters gastronomical, she prefers to let others enjoy her handiwork instead. Her customers are contemporary, global women with a strong sense of identity, not necessarily working women and those who do not have different wardrobes for NY and New Delhi. "I realise what a job it is to be a stay-at-home mom," she says, "I could never do it. For me, coming to office and working is easier than being at home the whole day with my child. Hats off to them!"

As for herself, she picks Abraham and Thakore, or maybe Rajesh Pratap Singh for his impeccable finish or Manish Arora 'for his madness' and Rohit Bal for his 'finest Indian clothes'. She considers herself lucky that her contemporaries from NIFT - Singh and Arora - are still her best friends, with no competition between them. "I'm not a Gucci girl. I can appreciate what the house does, but that's not something that I'm attracted to. It is just not my sensibility," she says.

Her foray into designing for a film, ‘Dance with the Wind’, came early in her career. The very different experience of working with quality people turned out to be both enriching and enlightening. But Bollywood is unlikely to have heroes and heroines running around trees dressed in Joshipura creations. She categorically feels that is not her sensibility. The designer’s success has been most apparent in the US (in over 80 speciality stores) and in India. To her surprise, her label does well in Japan and even the Middle East where she had imagined that they’d prefer more colour. With a store in Delhi that opened early 2006 at The Crescent, and plans to open more across the country, Joshipura’s first appearance at a Fashion Week was only in 2004, when she was expecting her baby.

For someone who finds the creation of every collection as overwhelming as a relationship, the new feelings and sensibility it triggers is what stand out as landmarks in her decade-long career. Uniforms for TVS, Radisson, Mahindra & Mahindra, a great relationship with discerning, likeminded customers in Chennai makes her believe her clients there naturally share her penchant for subtlety. How did a renowned fashion designer start designing uniforms? The feisty designer says, “It was not a planned move. Just one thing led to another.”

Hubby Vivek turned 40 just days after her show at the recently held fashion week in New Delhi. Joshipura had planned to celebrate with a bash at the capital and then take a vacation together. This is in accordance with her New Year resolution to ensure she does not cease to be who she is. Her future plans also include ensuring more time for herself and doing simple things like going for a walk and watching the sunset in NY, where she has lived for seven dynamic years. Involved passionately with the AIDS foundation – Naaz, after losing a very close friend to this disease, Joshipura raises funds, spends time with the children at the centre in New Delhi, whenever possible. She also reads up whatever she can on medical advances and wants to do more when time permits.