A self-taught perfumer with a background in surface design and photography, Maya’s natural intuition in scent lead to the launch of her niche perfume brand in 2016. Maya’s gender-neutral scents take inspiration from her Swedish and West African heritage, with high quality artisanal blends capturing nostalgic familial memories.
Maya wears the Buildable Shearling Liner in the new blush colourway, personalising her style stance with the Shearling Collar in orange, near her East London studio.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND
I grew up in Sweden, in a small industrial city called Vasteras. I lived with my mother and older sisters until I turned 19 and then me and my best friend moved to London. My heritage is Swedish on my mother side and Gambian on my father’s side and this acts as inspiration and is echoed in my line of fragrances. I live and work from the Isle of Dogs in East London and have been here for the past eleven years.
WHAT LED AND INSPIRED YOU TO START YOUR BUSINESS?
After arriving is London I spent many years working for Carhartt. I loved working for them and it shaped me in many ways but after having my daughter I decided to change direction. I enrolled at LCC as a mature student and graduated from their Surface Design foundation degree in 2012. Whilst there I gravitated towards traditional photography and textile design. Having that creative outlet gave me so much and it spurred me onto exploring multi-dimensional work. I used my old family photographs as inspiration in my design work and kept expanding on them further via scent.
