Our Story

As a first generation Australian, understanding and learning to love my Sri Lankan heritage has been quite a journey. Over the years I showed and found my love for my culture through food, and thanks to my mum and her amazing cooking I’ve always felt inspired to cook eat and share good food. Living in a food heaven like Melbourne helps too.

Having tried so many delicious condiments and chilli oils, I’ve noticed a gap in the market and experimented in the kitchen with a Sri Lankan inspired chilli oil. After lots of test runs and feedback from friends and family, I decided to bring the product to life and channel my creativity into this passion project.

To blend my Aussie and Sri Lankan background into the essence of the brand, I collaborated with the talented Studio Nice One in Colombo to help ignite my vision. Along with the core brand identity, packaging and design, SNO came up with the name, Gini Maya, which was a perfect fit. A play on the Sinhala word for fiery (ginimaya), ‘gini’ refers to fire while ‘maya’ translates to magic or illusion in Sanskrit.

Gini Maya is something I hope brings you as much joy as it has to me since its inception. Being able to channel my love for food, my heritage and all things small business has been wonderful.

Welcome to the Gini Maya family.

Teruni, Founder