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D.S. & Durga
Niche brand · Brooklyn, United States

D.S. & Durga

Brooklyn perfumery that translates music, places, and materials into precisely told worlds of scent.
Brooklyn, United States
D.S. & Durga Bowmakers with bottle, bow-making tools and wood shavings
Origin
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Founders
David Seth Moltz and Kavi Ahuja Moltz
Creative roles
David: in-house perfumer; Kavi: creative direction and design
Production
Developed and made in New York
Creative premise
Narratives drawn from music, art, nature, myth, and design
At Parfinity
25 fragrances to sample
The story
From a small Bushwick apartment grew a perfume house that treats scent with the seriousness of music, literature, or film. David Seth Moltz composes the fragrances; Kavi Ahuja Moltz, a trained architect, shapes the visual and spatial world around them.
Their work rarely begins with a conventional fragrance family. It starts with specific places, sounds, objects, and fragments of memory, then explores them through perfume, text, image, and music.
01 · Founding duo

Perfumer and architect

The earliest phase began with homemade tonics and scented gifts for friends. David Seth Moltz, then a musician, taught himself through aromatic materials and old books on plants and preparations. Kavi Ahuja Moltz brought her training in architecture and design to labels, packaging, and the brand's visual language.
That division of work remains the creative core: David formulates the scents, while Kavi builds the designed spaces in which they appear. Perfume and presentation therefore develop as two parts of the same idea.
D.S. & Durga co-founder Kavi Moltz standing against a white wall
02 · Method

Stories made smellable

A scent here may begin with a summer of college radio, as Debaser does; with the inside of a violin case, as in Bowmakers; or with the structural framework of a composition, as in I Don't Know What. What matters is not merely the unusual reference but its translation into a legible olfactory form.
Texts, playlists, images, and films extend those compositions. The house therefore describes its perfumes as rich narratives: different media provide additional entrances into the same invisible setting.
03 · Craft

An aromatic language of his own

As a self-taught perfumer, David Seth Moltz developed his practice outside the conventional training system. He discusses scent composition in relation to color, music, literature, and film, seeking specific times, places, and materials rather than an abstract mood.
The formulas are created in house, and the brand states that its production remains in New York. Concept, formulation, and visual execution consequently stay closely connected. This is an unusually integrated model for a grown independent perfume house.
D.S. & Durga co-founder and perfumer David Seth Moltz
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Discover D.S. & Durga at home

Choose five D.S. & Durga fragrances as 2 ml samples for your Parfinity Box. The value of your box is fully credited towards a later bottle purchase.

Your individual Parfinity Box
  • Choose any 5 fragrances
  • Wear every fragrance more than once
  • Credit the box value towards a bottle
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25 fragrances by D.S. & Durga

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Community

What the community says about D.S. & Durga

10/10
Woody, not too sweet, easy to like, pleasant to wear
alex_aBowmakers
10/10
I have been into vetiver fragrances for a long time and I really love this raw material. I have many perfumes with highly vetiver-oriented notes and this one is a great one.
O.G.St. Vetyver
10/10
It took a little while for me and Debaser in Bloom to click, but then I couldn't stop sniffing myself. By now it's love, and the bottle has finally moved in. It smells wonderfully floral, but also fruity because of the fig and also a bit green. I even got a compliment for it at the office right away 😊
teenbeenDebaser in Bloom
8 / 10from 42 approved reviews by our community
The nose

The perfumer behind D.S. & Durga

Image of David Seth Moltz

David Seth Moltz

David Seth Moltz represents a unique voice in contemporary perfumery, bringing his background as a musician and storyteller to the art of scent creation.
Discover more about David Seth Moltz
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Who creates D.S. & Durga fragrances?
David Seth Moltz is the co-founder and in-house perfumer. According to the brand, he developed its aromatic language and formulates the scents himself.
What does the brand's narrative approach mean?
The starting point is often a specific sound, place, or object. Debaser translates a musical memory, while Bowmakers draws on the materials and atmosphere of a violin case.
Where are the fragrances made?
The brand states that its scents are developed in house and made in New York. A recent official press release specifies that they are formulated in Brooklyn and bottled in the Bronx.
What is I Don't Know What?
I Don't Know What is designed as a transparent fragrance enhancer. It can be worn alone or layered over another scent to bring its structure forward.
Wear First. Love Forever.

Which story will you wear on your skin?

Build your D.S. & Durga selection and get to know each fragrance where it matters: in everyday life, on your skin, and without time pressure.

Sample D.S. & Durga nowwww.dsanddurga.com/