Maya Njie

About Maya Njie

Maya Njie composes fragrances as recollections of memory. Drawing on her dual Scandinavian and Gambian heritage, she reconstructs intimate moments through scent, keeping small details that might otherwise slip from consciousness. Her accords carry a nostalgic tone, yet the finished perfumes feel contemporary.

Learning the Craft

Njie is a self-taught perfumer. She developed her practice through experimentation, blending raw materials with essential oils, aroma compounds and resins, and combining nature and science in autobiographical fragrances. The house bearing her name was founded in 2016 and continues to explore scent and memory through artisanal blends.

Photographs and Materials

Her olfactory identity draws on her upbringing and on an archive of family photographs from the 1960s: a small Swedish summer house surrounded by forest, Sunday afternoon visits to her grandparents' sparsely furnished flat, an uncle and aunt's wedding. Each scent aims to bottle a time, place and spirit, and photographs of family and places accompany the perfumes. Because perfume behaves differently on each person, she encourages wearers to try the scents on their own skin and find their own meaning in them.

Signature Works

• *Nordic Cedar*: Bright, spicy cardamom opens over earthy patchouli and cedarwood, settling on soft musk and amber. It is paired with a 1969 photograph of the family outside her grandfather's allotment cabin in Västerås, Sweden.
• *Aethi Opum*: After the rain, black pepper and vanilla warm the earth, while coffee, vetiver and leather mingle with thiouraye (churai), an incense made from family recipes in The Gambia and Senegal.
• *Tropica*: Citrus, pineapple and white florals open onto Mediterranean fig with iris and rhubarb, resting on coconut, ambergris and woods.