KPMG Women's Irish Open x CHUPI
The KPMG Women’s Irish Open is quickly establishing itself on the sporting calendar and this year a new winner's trophy has been designed by leading Irish jeweller Chupi Sweetman. Ahead of teeing off at Dromoland Castle on August 31, we took a look behind the scenes to find out more about the trophy and its famous designer.
“When KPMG approached us about creating the KPMG Women’s Irish Open trophy I knew it was meant to be.” So says Wicklow-born Chupi Sweetman whose passion for jewellery and design will shortly culminate in the opening of a new flagship store in Dublin city centre and a similar outlet in London next year.
Her career has spanned design college, a stint as a designer with TopShop and jewellery school. As she celebrates her ten years in business, Chupi recently secured a €3.75m investment for international expansion.
Going for Growth
Commenting on the development of her business so far, Chupi highlights her role as a keen ambassador for Going for Growth, the KPMG and Enterprise Ireland supported female entrepreneurship programme, “I joined the Going for Growth Programme back in 2014 – today I’m a Lead Entrepreneur on the programme helping brilliant women scale exceptional businesses.”
Going for Growth is designed to support women who are serious about growing their businesses. The next and 16th programme will be accepting registrations of interest from this October.
Inspiring future generations
Reflecting on her positive experience and how it has acted as a catalyst for her success, Chupi says “KPMG have been such an important part of that journey - backing us in our infancy - and today we’re a KPMG client.”
Chupi is a strong supporter of the principle of promoting not only women in business but women in sport. “Celebrating women in sport in the same way we champion women in business – it’s the idea of inspiring future generations.”
This September, the organisers of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open hope to exceed last year's strong attendance of 25,000 people. Over 30,000 are expected to witness the world's leading female golfers battle it out for the title and a share of the €400,000 overall prize fund. So who will lift the new Chupi-designed trophy? Will it be last year’s champion Klára Spilková from the Czech Republic or the Irish favourite and KPMG Brand Ambassador Leona Maguire?
Hand-poured here in Dublin
Whoever is crowned champion will experience handcrafted design at its best, “we’re working in recycled bronze, literally hand-poured here in Dublin, in techniques that are thousands of years old. The base is going to be made from reclaimed oak.”
Speaking on the importance of working together, Sweetman says KPMG are the perfect partner for Chupi on this because they are equally passionate about sustainability – they’ve built out a brilliant team who are looking to the future. “This trophy is going to represent a collaboration of some of the best forces in Ireland today – from Chupi and our signature design elements, to KPMG’s backing women, to the wonderful athlete who is going to win this trophy in the gorgeous surrounds of Dromoland Castle this September.”
“At Chupi we make pieces of the future – I wanted to approach designing the trophy with the same attitude – making something that can be passed on for generations. From athlete to athlete – a badge of honour. A crown of laurels – a winner’s trophy.”