104 JUNE - JULY 2019
Did you have a moment of revelation? Or was
it the recognition of a gap in the market or,
perhaps, a conversation with friends that made
it all come together?
Kavi (K): A lot of our friends had their own
companies, so that influenced us. We didn’t have a
master plan at all. We just thought it was bold and
different, and no one was making what David calls
‘aromatic landscapes’.
From starting without any experience in the
field or in business, how has the journey been?
David (D): You do just that — begin. Start
experimenting. Get your hands on everything you can.
Analyse everything you smell. Take copious notes.
K: We kept putting our earnings back into the
business — constantly upgrading the packaging — all
the while learning about the perfume industry. No
one was willing to answer questions, really, or help.
We had to figure everything out from scratch.
How did Kavi’s background as an architect
inform the design of the packaging and the
entire brand aesthetic?
K: D. S. & Durga is really about all the things David and
I love — and their very detailed worlds. I trained as an
architect, but feel that I could apply that knowledge
to anything design-based. It’s about understanding
the language of creation and critique. Without that,
I couldn’t define the brand — how certain things are
DSD, and others just aren’t.
David dips into myriad worlds — of literature,
music, obscure poetry, etymology even — to
source witty, charming names of the fragrances
and candles. For example, Radio Bombay,
Portable Fireplace and other charmers like
Concrete After Lightning and Big Sur After Rain.
This is such a pleasant departure from the usual
attempts to be sensuous and mysterious while
naming fragrances....
D: I think that when people find out about the level
of detail and thought that goes into each of our
products, they feel connected to them. We never
did much market research anyway — just made what
we wanted to and hoped it would resonate. Now that
we have a flagship store in Manhattan it’s great to see
who walks in and how they react to our story.
The design of the packaging, branding and store
is a study in minimalism while retaining whimsy
and elegance (personally, I love that it has an
almost brutalist feel). What are your influences?
K: I have a visceral reaction to brutalism — the
geometry, the concrete, the scale — I am very drawn
to it. But I have been out of architectural practice for
10 years now, and feel a lot of distance from ‘isms’. I’m
not really a minimalist, I actually love many different
styles and ornamentation too. But when it came to the
store, it was all about texture because that’s what I’m
really after. As far as the packaging goes, it’s an evolving
process, and you can see that across our products.
They were all designed by me over a span of several
years. My tastes changed, and that is reflected in what
you see. That’s what can happen when the branding
isn’t conceptualised all at once. I’m always trying to rein
it in and look at everything cohesively, but sometimes,
you just want to view an element individually, without
simply plugging it into your branding formula.
(Their flagship store on Mulberry Street in the
Nolita neighbourhood in downtown Manhattan is a
testament to this aesthetic. Floor-to-ceiling windows
look out onto the street, ever-changing strips of light
reflecting off a wall are programmed to particular
playlists, and a poured concrete display table takes
up most of the main room. Add to that the beautiful
amber candle jars with DSD-stamped ceramic lids
[made in France], and the lush packaging in heavy
boxes with heavy bottles waiting within, and one
starts to understand how every detail makes up the
world within which we want to reside.)Do you mull over the names and descriptions of
the fragrances with friends? Are there names in
an archive that you are waiting to use as soon as
the right scent reveals itself?
D: I have a growing list of names and ideas written
down. Even words I know I will want to use. I collect
them as I go through life — from books, travels, scenes,
signs, plants...everything. I make a note of all the
aromatic items in rooms and places. I am moved by
everything around me. The scents are woven into a
story that captures the essence of a certain place or
time — hopefully allowing the sniffer access to some
fabled world, like you would find in an epic poem or
a large-scale narrative. (For example, he describes the
fragrance Radio Bombay as a ‘transistor radio hewn of
sandalwood that radiates ragas in the Bandra heat. Hot
copper lubes warm the soft wood, releasing blooms of
musk, cream, peach, ambrette, coco, cedar distillate’.)You have said that DSD has an NYC DNA – what
does that mean to you?
K: We have lived here for a long time. And I grew
up nearby. The city always loomed large in my mind
as a child — I knew it was going to be a big part of
my life. New York is the locus we keep returning to.
There’s a toughness here but also magic; here, you
can make your dreams a reality through will, faith and
a little bit of luck. The American dream is a confusing
concept these days, but we still want to believe
in its possibility.