Chupi Sweetman, the woman behind the eponymous jewellery brand known for its aesthetic beauty inspired by Irish nature and folklore, has created a stunning home in Dublin.
The house is a perfect fusion of its two hundred year history and her unique contemporary style.
Built on the cusp of the Victorian/Georgian period, the house is technically Victorian but has strong Georgian influences, including very large windows.
Read more: Inside Ailbhe Garrihy's gorgeous home with husband and two sons - see her fabulous interiors
Chupi says this was a big attraction because she wanted a bright house, which this certainly is.
Chupi’s husband Brian Durney is a designer by trade and the couple had just finished renovating another home when they started over and went house hunting again with Chupi’s mother Rosita Sweetman.
The couple, along with their three year old daughter Aya and Chupi’s mother, who lives in a separate section at ground level, all fell in love with the property.
“What really made this house stand out was the fireplaces,” Chupi explains. “I thought whoever designed this house two hundred years ago loved it.
"The people that lived here since have done such a good job of keeping the bones intact - the window boxes, the shutters, the cornices and the fireplaces, those incredible pieces from the past. That wasn’t always the case in the other houses we went to see.
“The house had to work for my husband, our daughter and my Mum - all four of us. Three generations of one family are now living in a house where so many other generations lived before us.”
Adapting a period property to modern day life can be challenging. Critical to the success of a contemporary conversion is an empathy for the past, something Chupi has in spades.
“I have a friend who is a conservation architect and she was an amazing guide. We are not living in a museum, it’s got to be updated for this generation.
“The ceiling roses are beautiful works of art and we are preserving them, but using really contemporary lights rather than chandeliers.
“This way we honour the past, but live in the present and celebrate the future.”
Photography by Philip Lauterbach
To read the full interview and see all the pictures, pick up a copy of RSVP's Home magazine, on shelves now.
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