I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Thursday December 17th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Thursday December 17th — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Thursday December 17th — —

D.S. & Durga

As we are immersing ourselves in the fascinating world of luxury (niche) perfumes at the moment, working on an incredible project which will be revealed in a couple of months, we have encountered several impressive new brands which have set challenging high standards in the still quickly evolving field. One of those standouts perfume houses is the New York City-based D.S. & Durga, creating perfumes, colognes and scented candles in small batches, strictly using premium-sourced raw materials. All of their elegant scents are created exclusively in-house, with inspiration to be found in outdated herbal wisdom, native ritual medicine, lore and legends, historical movements and Americana. The different D.S. & Durga scents tell different stories of prospectors, gentry, trailblazers, frontier women, drawing rooms, workbenches, cowboys – fragments of half remembered legends, movements, events, and foreign lands.

D.S. & Durga’s production hearkens back to the pre-industrial cottage industries of North America. The processes are time consuming and low in yield. Both factors place quality of product far above quantity.

The company is named directly after its founders: David Moltz’ initials (David Seth) and his nickname for his wife Kavi (Durga is a Hindu goddess). Just like this equal weighing share is represented in the name of the brand, they have also divided their fields of specialization. D.S. creates the formulas, having grown up immersed in the idyllic scents of a quaint New England town – ocean and forest. After winning his first bottle of cologne at an island summer camp raffle, he has developed a lifelong fascination with fragrance. Durga on the other hand creates the designs, born in the shadows of New York, but having traveled the world throughout her childhood. She studied architecture in Los Angeles and design in The Netherlands. After returning to New York to design buildings she met David.

Together David and Kavi soon began tincturing flowers, herbs, and spices to make aftershaves for friends. But, as aftershaves are hardly used anymore, they quickly shifted focus towards blending oils, resins, and plant extracts. The results were small batch perfumes and colognes, and friends loved them. Some years later, D.S. & Durga have succeeded in moving beyond signature perfumes, having created a very diverse set of 13 scents as well as a secondary line, called Hylnds, with five additional perfumes and is sold at Barneys, amongst others.

We consider perfume to be a part of your wardrobe. Like clothes, you can change it each day depending on your mood. A really amazing scent can instantly dress you up when you’re just wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

For more information on the remarkble brand see here