Milestone Moments

Ireland's Queen of Diamonds, Chupi Sweetman, talks love, life and loss and why it's all worth commemorating.

- EDITORIAL BY CLAIRE CRAIG.

An overnight success story that took 13 years is how Chupi Sweetman's mother jokingly refers to her daughter's professional ascent.

The reality is a little more complicated, with the seeds of a creative career being planted from the age of five, before blossoming into the successful establishment of one of Ireland's best-loved jewellery brands

'I took the scenic route,' laughs Chupi. 'I've always loved making things and that joy of seeing something in your mind and bringing it into reality. My earliest memory is my mum buying me a Singer sewing machine when I was five so I could make outfits for my dollies.'

As Chupi grew so did her entrepreneurial spirit and outfits for dolls were soon replaced with handbags that she sold via her local hairdressing salon.

'I was about 14 or 15 and that was my first proper commercial venture', she explains. 'I loved it. I thought it was the coolest thing imaginable that people who didn't know me were buying these bags.'

The collection grew to include dresses which she sold in an independent shop in Dublin, before moving on to Cow's Lane fashion market where the west Wicklow native was then scouted by Topshop.

'At that stage Topshop was about to open its first flagship store in Ireland. I was 20 years old and studying fashion at university when I was invited to go and present my designs. They liked what they saw and gave me a contract, I left uni and designed for them for six years. I absolutely loved it but I always knew it wasn't what I wanted to do forever.'

Chupi loved the idea of creating something that could connect and resonate with lots of different people but wasn't sure how that translated into a successful career. The turning point came at 26 when she got engaged to her now husband Brian Durney.