D.S. & Durga
A Brooklyn perfume house, begun around 2007, that turns music, myth, and nature into scent stories.
United States
About D.S. & Durga
D.S. & Durga is a Brooklyn-based perfume house built around two people: David, the "D.S.," a self-taught perfumer, and Kavi, the "Durga," a trained architect whom the brand credits with building "buildings for our scents and cities for our universe."
History
In a 2012 interview with ELLE, David Seth Moltz said the business began when he started making his own beauty products and set out to make a bay rum "like the old days," which grew into gifts for friends. He placed that moment in 2007, when, as he put it, young people in Brooklyn were getting excited about craft and slow methods. The brand's own account describes starting from scratch in a tiny Bushwick apartment, and says all of its scents are made in house in New York.
Philosophy & Signature Style
The brand holds that scent is as powerful as sight and sound. It describes its perfumes as "authentic studies" of real objects, plants, and places, woven into stories. Music, art, nature, myth, and design are its stated sources of inspiration, and liner notes, playlists, images, and films carry each story beyond the bottle. Moltz told ELLE that he creates the scents "from idea to juice," while his wife designs everything.
Beyond the Bottle
According to ELLE, the couple met by chance on a street in the East Village, and by 2012 they had made custom perfumes for Rodin and Shipley & Halmos and a limited-edition line with Anthropologie. Today the brand's range goes beyond perfume to candles, body products, and other home goods.
