Walking into the Chupi flagship store at Powerscourt Townhouse yesterday evening was nothing short of walking into Tolkien’s Rivendell, if Rivendell was overtaken with star-shaped confetti and pink balloons. The pieces from the jewellery company’s Autumn/Winter 2017 collection welcomed visitors as they entered the store, while doughnuts provided by the Dublin Doughnut Company and drinks by Fever Tree ensured that they stayed in the store longer than they had planned.
Chupi Sweetman, the driving force behind the brand and mastermind of its designs, flitted back and forth from client to client, always with a smile, ensuring that their needs were met and their stories heard. Her sales assistants were busy making sure that each customer grabbed a doughnut and a drink. Each visitor had their polaroids taken in front of a gold and glittery backdrop.
The brand aesthetic is inspired by “wild and natural things”, and the Autumn/Winter 2017 collection remains true to its vision. It was as if Midas himself had touched each piece, turning delicate things like feathers, leaves and twigs into solid gold. The earrings looked like they were plucked straight from the night sky, and a specific locket, entitled “Love Conquers All”, has a delicate star-shaped gem on its cover, meant to depict the North Star. The gracefulness of each piece gave the collection an elegant elven vibe. The inspiration behind the collection is the night sky. “I fall in love with stories”, Sweetman told The University Times. “I was a dreamer when I was child, and I was so into stars, so this collection was all about the star signs and love. I am a hopeless romantic.” And so, it seems, are her customers, with Chupi receiving orders every day from soon-to-be-fiancés all over the world. “I’ve just had a guy fly in from London the other day to buy an engagement ring for his girl”, Sweetman explained, saying that it is her privilege to be part of other people’s precious moments. “An engagement ring is such a thing of the future. It’s not a ring that you just wear today, it’s something that you hope your grand-daughter will be wearing in years to come, and that’s an incredible feeling. I’m really lucky.”
It’s easy to see why so many people fall in love with Sweetman’s designs. In this collection alone, each design has a beautiful balance of strength and elegance, and the craftsmanship that went into making the jewellery is evident in each piece. “From the day I start making a piece to the day it gets made may take up to 100 hours”, Sweetman explains. “Sketching and designing would take me three months, and then after the first piece is made there are about 12 people involved in making every single [subsequent] piece.”
A lot of Chupi’s pieces are made through traditional goldsmithing methods, with some even being made using an ancient Egyptian technique. But even though the company uses craftsmanship techniques that are hundreds of years old, Sweetman says that what has really propelled her company to success is the use of social media, particularly of Instagram: “As a designer, if you put 100 people in the room, 99 of them will hate my design… but one person will love it. And the thing about social media is that you find the one person who loves it. Whereas working 20 years ago, how would you ever connect with the people who love what you love?”
Considering the success of Chupi in Ireland, Sweetman reflects on the possibility of branching out abroad. “I love being at home, so no”, she says decisively. “I love Ireland, so we’ll be staying here with no plans to go away.” A relief, no doubt, to the company’s thousands of Irish fans.
