Reading time: 6 mins
Based in New York, shop - but mostly owner - Susanna & Sai (@susannachownyc on instagram) has been through every celeb you could imagine: from Ariana Grande, going on to Bella Thorne, Nicky Hilton, Alessandra Ambrosio and more..
Who's behind SusannaChow?
Since 2018, Susanna and Mother - Chow - Sai have inspired us with the magnificents handmade beaded bags till expanding their store to fur shearling big soft coats of every possible color.. but lets go back in time, around Susanna's teen years, when the art of beading for Chow's family was and still is something running in their blood veins or as Mama Chow says - is a time honoured craft rooted in my Chinese heritage - that started with the designing of the Riley bag moving Mama Chow through the nostalgia of all her past experiences, saying how every each square of the bag represents a chapter of her life made of struggles and battles that her and her family had overcome, not only as a Chinese immigrant but as a wife, mother and mostly woman in the USA.
Mama Chow's Story...
She's now onto the sixties but Mama Chow's Story goes
beyond time: she explains - I learned how to bead when I was just 10 years old from my own mother when we lived in Hong Kong. Back then we didn't have much, so we beaded little tiny bag for an export company for some extra cash, she would sit with me for hours, teaching me all the different techniques to make the beautiful bags you see on the shop today - she then graduated in Hong Kong University studying Graphic Design, moving to the age of 21 years old to New York - where she still living til today - raising her three beautiful children working full-time. After retiring in 2013 she decided to volunteer teaching elderly people how to bead - even before beaded bags were a trend - (lol).
Susanna Chow's Story...
Working a corporate job 9 to 5 for Susanna wasn't really the best at the time and didn't fulfil her soul at the time - as she says - believing in herself she states that life has been a challenging roller coaster for her but that life is "crazy, wild and yet unexpectedly beautiful". Her goal with the brand has been to contribute to other people's lives by sharing their artisanal craft and sparking a sense of joy when people wear their pieces. throughout the years she learned how to turn brokenness into beauty, messes into masterpieces and trials into testimonies sharing her story: the passing of mom's relatives in car crash, with starting the brand with less than $500 in her pocket and mom's breast cancer..
Charity to help
At age 50, Mama Chow was diagnosed with breast cancer undergoing a mastectomy followed by rounds of chemotherapy, now she's 17 years of being cancer-free and in October of 2021 she and daughter Susanna - with every Carrie heart bag sold - they donated a portion of proceeds to @SuganGKomen which supports the advancement of breast cancer research, education and treatment. In 2021 also, they have partnered with @welcome.to.chinatown to create exclusive beaded pots and then donating a portion to an organisation that provides relief for small businesses or even in 2019 for every bag purchased they have donated a certain amount to disabled orphans in China that supports and provides care for them for donating them an even brighter future ahead of time.
They are now in 30+ stores nationwide, meeting thousands of women from their own community that inspires them and stylists worldwide using their clothes and accessories.
At The Sfag we do not only love Mama Chow but we also admire the passion, the strength, the talent and the love for family and traditions that Mama Sui gave to Susanna by raising her.
And meanwhile sobbing with a tear dropping down my face ( because it reminds me of my family too) I hope all the best for Susanna's Store and Mama Chow.
Dearly, The Sfag.