Chupi Sweetman set up her own jewellery business 10 years ago and since then it has evolved into a luxury brand that sells in 70 countries and employs 40 people.

Earlier this year, she secured investment of €3.75m to fund the expansion of the business which bares her distinctive name - Chupi, and tomorrow, a new Chupi store opens on Clarendon Street in Dublin.

She says the future is omnichannel.

Online is the best way to go global, she says, and augmented reality has boosted the business giving customers the opportunity to 'try on' rings, and now people can walk into her flagship store and make what is often an emotional purchase.

"At Chupi we've built a really big tech stack, it means that you take a photograph of your hand and anywhere in the world you can try on your engagement ring, you can try on your wedding band, you can try on your divorce ring."

Divorce rings are an emerging trend as women buy their own diamonds and mark significant moments in their lives.

"If you think about jewellery, it used to be the day you got engaged, the day you got married, the day you had a baby. As women our lives are much more nuanced, we are the first generation of women buying our own diamonds."

Ms Sweetman says there is an onus on Chupi as a business to make ethical choices for the future, and cited the decision to pull diamonds from Russia from the supply chain.

"Russia is one of the biggest diamond suppliers and one in three diamonds on the high street today are Russian. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, we sat as board at Chupi and looked at all of our supply chain, looked at where we could be contributing and realised Russia was a huge challenge within the industry," she said.

"They are still not embargoed, but we pulled them from our supply chain. I think we have an onus as a business to make ethical decisions for the future," she added.

On sustainability in the jewellery sector, Ms Sweetman says lab grown diamonds are really exciting.

"Think about the fur coat conversation; 40 years ago we wore fur, 20 years ago we wore our grandmother's fur coat, but today how many people do you know that wear real fur? In the same way, lab grown diamonds are in the same category. They're carbon neutral, carbon negative," she says.

Chupi's funding round in April secured €3.75m and she believes the business matched with the right investors.

"I always think that raising investment is like getting married. I knew the time would come when we would expand, I've always had a global vision for the business. We were really lucky with our partners BVP, Abbey Finance and Permanent TSB."

Ms Sweetman says she has no plans to sell the business just yet. "No, I'm nearly 40. I love Chupi, it's been my last 10 years, it's going to be my next 10. We'll find the right partner in the future. We want global so that's the next step, that's the next adventure for us."