HAMPSHIRE, England - Jane Mosse left her design job at Dorma in Manchester 14 years ago to do something she had always wanted: start her own business. Since that day, her business, which she has chosen to remain sole proprietor of, has grown to 15 times its original size, with turnover doubling in the last four years alone. Today, Jane Mosse Studio thrives despite difficult times in the trade, and for Mosse, the key has been versatility and an artistic quality inspired by the studios surroundings.

In the first instance, our studio is unique in that it is set in the countryside in a small village in the south of England which contributes to the artistic inspiration of the designers. The majority of our competitors are in the north of England or London in a more industrial setting,'' Mosse explained.

The designs Jane Mosse Studio produces today, however, differ from the bedlinen and home furnishings designs it first produced 14 years ago. Designs for many other surfaces, including ceramics, wallcoverings, kitchen products and stationery now share the studio with designs for traditional home furnishings. The first orders for these novelty designs came unexpectedly when companies approached her at the New York design show Surtex to buy some of the designs they saw on her stand for different applications than the traditional home furnishings market.

''While home furnishings is still our mainstay, the market has become increasingly diverse. We've had to stay versatile,'' said Mosse, an entrepreneur who has found risk-taking a continued necessity.

Versatility even within the home furnishings market has become important as customers have subscribed to the idea of high fashion for the home in recent years, said Mosse. But she and her 12 to 15 freelance designers enjoy the challenge of coming up with new and fresh ideas to keep pace with the capricious demands. In fact, Mosse believes that she can hold her position at the top of the market only by keeping an open mind to new applications of her studio's designs. This is especially true, given that more designers are entering the market every year.

''We were one of the first to start selling tie-dye in home furnishings,'' she said. ''We did our own tie-dyes and designed over the top of the fabric. Now we're seeing even more of a return to the '60s with a demand for handcrafted looks, embroidery and wooden block prints. We're seeing lots of minimalism and simple prints in white and neutral colorings.''

Mosse said that the increasing demand for fashion combined with a growing customer base which demands the designer's personal attention, could force designers and their customers to use the Internet more and more. With this technology, the designer can handpaint a design, photograph it, scan it into the computer and send it to the customer via the Internet. Mosse, in fact, established a Website six months ago which has generated interest measured in ''hits'' from all over the world.

But despite her own success, Mosse laments the state of the design industry in the U.K., where some designers have been forced out of business. Even some of the design shows have been struggling, she said, pointing out that Indigo in Lille is not really viable for designers any more.

''The trade is difficult at the moment. The trend is toward large companies, either through amalgamation or buyout. This year it hit England quite badly, and some of the design firms have gone under. It's somewhat of a recession,'' she said. ''The move towards textured woven fabrics has lessened the demand for prints and many of my customers who buy for print are pretty gloomy. But the American market is reasonably strong.''

The American market accounts for about half the orders received at Jane Mosse Studio, and the numbers are growing. Although her designs sell well at home to middle- to high-end retailers, printers, and converters in the bedlinen, upholstery, bath and kitchen sectors Ð customers such as Ulster Weavers, Sanderson, John Lewis, Crowson, Ashley Wilde, Anne & Robert Swaffer, and Blendworth - exports have been significant to her business from the beginning. This Mosse attributes partly to her attendance at trade shows Ð such as Surtex, Heimtextil and Decosit - which she perceives as integral to success in the fabric world and to the design world in particular.

''The trade fairs are very helpful. They provide a forum for a meeting of the designers,'' she said. ''We are motivated by the interchange of new ideas from clients and designers and find great interest and inspiration from the trend halls, although these may initially only be a starting point. And we get to see all the people that we don't have time to visit. So much of this business is based on who you know.''

Visit Jane Mosse's Website at www.JaneMosse.co.uk