Maya Njie

About Maya Njie

Maya Njie is a fragrance house built around a single idea: perfume as a vessel for memory. Its founder and perfumer, Maya Njie, draws on her dual Swedish and Gambian heritage to capture fleeting moments and small details that might otherwise slip from consciousness. The accords carry a nostalgic tone, yet the finished perfumes feel distinctly contemporary.

Brand History

The brand was founded in 2016. Maya Njie is self-taught, and she developed her practice through experimentation, blending essential oils, aroma compounds and resins until she found her own way of working. Each perfume is made in small artisanal batches.

Family Photographs and Scent

Her olfactory identity grows out of her upbringing and an archive of intimate family photographs from the 1960s: a small Swedish summer house surrounded by changeable forests, Sunday afternoon visits to her grandparents' sparsely furnished flat, the wedding of an uncle and aunt. Each scent aims to bottle a time, a place and its spirit, while leaving room for the wearer to find their own feeling and meaning in it. Memories of The Gambia shape the collection as well.

Signature Fragrances

• *Nordic Cedar*: Bright, spicy cardamom opens onto earthy patchouli and cedarwood, settling on soft musk and amber for a scent that is both feral and warm.
• *Aethi Opum*: Built around thiouraye, an incense made from family recipes passed down in The Gambia and Senegal, with black pepper, wet earth, vetiver, coffee and leather evoking sun-warmed stone.
• *Tropica*: Sparkling citrus, pineapple and white florals give way to Mediterranean fig and iris, then a base of coconut, ambergris and woods that conjures warmer climates.