She sells bling to A$AP Rocky and Drake: meet A$AP Eva, Macau-born jeweller in New York

New York City is a paradox in that it is ethnically diverse but defined by its distinct enclaves. Within that global melting pot, communities gravitate towards the familiar, as evidenced by its three Chinatowns in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. But culture has a habit of breaching these invisible borders in some surprising ways. Eva Sam Chiok-va, for instance, became an honorary member of influential rap collective A$AP Mob from Harlem after she connected with black musicians 20 years her junior. Over the past 38 years, Sam has turned her goldsmith shop, Popular Jewelry, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, into an unassuming hip-hop mecca. When she opened the business in October 1988 with funds borrowed from her family, she intentionally broke away from the rigid business models of her male relatives. “They catered exclusively to Chinese people,” Sam, now 64, says. Born and raised in Macau, Sam had reluctantly migrated to New York City in 1982, at age 21, to join her family. She spent her first six months working at a garment factory, then worked for six years as an employee at her older brother’s Chinatown gold jewellery shop. Despite initially not wanting to live in New York, she had developed a keen understanding of her new home by the late 1980s. “In the US, it simply doesn’t work to focus purely on Chinese clientele,” Sam explains. “You must have pieces that Chinese people, Italians, Indians, Germans and Japanese people fancy. The US is like the United Nations – people from all sorts of different ethnic backgrounds living together.” Enter A$AP Rocky This egalitarian approach paid off when it came to starting her own business. In 1989, a few months after she started Popular Jewelry, Cappadonna of the Staten Island-formed hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan walked through her doors. He was her first celebrity client and an early link between East Coast rap’s heavy chains and the Chinatown gold trade. It was not, however, until the 2010s that Popular Jewelry crossed over into cultural landmark territory. Sam traces her first encounter with A$AP Rocky to around 2012. At the time, she was unaware of newer figures in the American rap scene and only saw a well-dressed young man. “The first time [Rocky] came, he didn’t actually buy anything,” Sam recalls. “He just came to my shop, took off his coat and placed it on the counter. I was like, ‘Kid, how is it that you’re only 20-something but have the money for such an expensive coat? You must be someone very famous, aren’t you?’” After the rapper shared his moniker, Sam asked her son: “Who on earth is this A$AP Rocky?” When the rapper returned in 2014, he began shopping from Popular Jewelry in earnest, integrating Sam’s custom gold chains and pendants into his high-end streetwear wardrobe. His affiliates from the A$AP Mob gradually followed. In 2018, Sam’s store served as a filming location for one of Rocky’s music videos. Sam’s husband, Charlie Wong, can be seen standing behind the counter, and the store sign is visible in a few shots. “[Rocky] comes by now and then, whenever he’s free. He’s very good to me,” Sam says. “And, just a few days ago, A$AP Ferg said to me, ‘You are A$AP Eva. You treat me so well, just like my mother, my family.’” Unwavering work ethic The shop’s organically built “street cred” eventually turned it into something of a mythical attraction – at least for those in the know – bringing in Hollywood players alongside the music industry. In 2018, Josh and Benny Safdie filmed their critically acclaimed crime drama Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler, briefly at the Chinatown store. Today, Popular Jewelry’s VIP roster includes actor Jude Law, rapper Macklemore, singer-songwriter Joji, and rappers Jaden Smith and Drake. From the Sinosphere, Sam counts Taiwanese boy band F4’s Vanness Wu and Hong Kong-American rapper MC Jin as long-time clients. Sam was present for these celebrity encounters because of her relentless work ethic: the shop remains open even during Chinese New Year, which is a time when most Chinatown immigrant businesses close. In the nearly four decades that Popular Jewelry has been open, Sam has rarely taken a day off – closing only for essential medical appointments, severe blizzards or major historical disruptions like the aftermath of 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. “Probably, in all of our 38 years, we’ve been closed for around 15 days,” she says. Beyond her dedication to Popular Jewelry, Sam’s secret to retaining her A-list clientele is perhaps her down-to-earth, radical warmth – although she insists it is basic human decency. “I don’t treat [celebrities like] A$AP Rocky any differently compared to my other clients.” She adds: “You cannot treat ordinary people with a poor attitude. I wouldn’t like it if my staff were impolite to customers. I would talk to them and tell them they mustn’t do that. “In fact, one should treat everybody equally well; only then can you be considered a truly genuine, kind-hearted person.”

She sells bling to A$AP Rocky and Drake: meet A$AP Eva, Macau-born jeweller in New York

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Eva Sam, nicknamed A$AP Eva, owns Popular Jewelry in New York’s Chinatown, a goldsmith that has become a hip-hop landmark

Eva Sam, nicknamed A$AP Eva, owns Popular Jewelry in New York’s Chinatown, a goldsmith that has become a hip-hop landmark