I am three steps across the threshold at D.S. & Durga’s new atelier in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, and already David Moltz is calling out from the back room, “Do you want to come smell this rose? It just bloomed!” Following his trail through the glass doors and into the sun-drenched yard, I find the perfumer crouched over a bright pink blossom that seems to dwarf the tiny rosebush. “Lemony,” he says as I lean down for a whiff. “I think it’s named after Paul McCartney.”
Of course it is. Launched in 2008 by David (the nose) and his wife, Kavi (the designer), D.S. & Durga is known for transposing lyrical stories—often riffing on music and literature—into layered, imaginative scents. Born of the indie maker movement and initially stocked by local boutiques and concept shops, the brand has emerged as an influential player in the niche fragrance world. The namesake line is in the midst of an ultrachic rebranding, exchanging the original botanical illustrations for graphic type wrapped around cylindrical bottles. The rest of the output includes the Hylnds collection, inspired by the myths and landscapes of Scotland and Ireland; offbeat candles (one pays tribute to a diesel-fueled 1985 Mercedes); and collaborations with Linda Rodin and El Cosmico, the free-spirited hotel in Marfa, Texas.
After fielding more than a few emails from fans inquiring where to find the full lineup, the couple now has a definitive answer: on the white lacquered shelves of their first-ever showroom, where viewings this summer can be arranged by appointment. Starting in September, they’ll also hold regular Saturday hours, though visitors will still need to look for Kavi’s custom-designed neon iconography in the window, in lieu of traditional signage. Surveying D.S. & Durga’s works-in-process, as with all artist’s studios, is one of the singular appeals of the new space. “I walk around Brooklyn all the time with our kids, and we know where all the flowers are,” David explains of the neighborhood tours that have sparked a series of flower-copy perfumes yet in development. “This year I made a really realistic wisteria, and I’ll show you the honeysuckle that I’m working on,” he says, picking up a bottle with a winsome hand-drawn label. “It’s really close, but it’s slightly metallic.”
In addition to that silvery honeysuckle scent, you’ll find other experimental creations on the shelf, including one that pays homage to the “plastic-y grape” smell of cassette tapes, and another featuring fossilized amber from the Baltic Sea. If you take a liking to one, David can price it out and custom-blend a bottle. In the meantime, there are plenty of ready-to-wear scents to choose from—chief among them, the three just-launched perfumes, complete with Kavi’s striking architectural boxes. Radio Bombay, what David calls a “deconstructed sandalwood,” imagines an old tube amp that heats up and releases “little puffs of peach and coconut and musk and cedar.” Rose Atlantic is a green oceanic twist on the East Coast’s Rosa rugosa, with a nod to “Sinatra and the summer wind.” And White Peacock Lily “smells like the real crazy, spicy lily,” he says. “It took me months to go back and forth between real lilies and this and add in all the strange little notes.”
Which is why the Bed-Stuy studio, with its airy backyard, is especially promising. “We want to have as many fragrant plants as possible,” David says of his hope to build a living scent library, adding to the geranium, juniper, lavender, and velvety purple heliotrope that are already there. “We’re thinking of doing a deck and putting ivy and honeysuckle and rose climbers on it,” he adds. The two plan to use the space to host events that blend perfume and music (David is a longtime musician). Till then, the studio’s deep collection of vinyl will supply the soundtrack—and, just maybe, some fittingly eccentric olfactory inspiration.
D.S. & Durga
1192 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn.
Open by appointment and, starting in September, on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
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