Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 39 (Kavi) and 39 (David).
Occupation: Founders, perfumers, and designers of D.S. & Durga perfume studio.
Instagram: @dsanddurga
Hometown: Paramus, NJ (Kavi). Swampscott, MA (David).
Studio location: Brooklyn.
Describe what you make: Stories in scent.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Our box. We’re proud that our package is 100 percent paper, foam-free, and recyclable. Ideally, one day, we’d love to have a refillable perfume (Kavi). As far as scent, Cowboy Grass because it conveys an aromatic landscape and became the blueprint for how I think about perfume (David).
Describe the problem your work solves: Our work is the result of self-starting, teaching yourself, doing it yourself, taking chances. That our final result is perfume is not actually the paint point, though we’re surely fragrance-obsessed (Kavi). We try to spread a little joy in people’s lives and create aromatic pieces you can explore, much like a painting you can walk into (David).
Describe the project you are working on now: More “fragrance enhancers.” We launched our first, called I Don’t Know What, and it’s doing really well. It stands alone but can also layer with other scents in interesting ways. We have two more in the works, one to floralize and one to leatherize.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: A major airline collaboration!
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Flexibility. We need rooms to work together or private rooms where one of us can just listen to what we want and work undisturbed. A large open studio to talk together and get nutty when the mood strikes. Music. We’re both music tyrants and need to set our own choices. For days when we have younger people coming in to help with shipping and samples, we need a stocked fridge!
What you do when you’re not working: Cook elaborate meals, bake cakes, and plan our next trip (Kavi). Family time, self-care, play guitar, and read (David).
Sources of creative envy: Le Corbusier, Joe Strummer, Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, Eileen Gray, Andree Putman, Charlotte Perriand, Siouxsie Sioux (Kavi). Gustav Mahler, Muddy Waters, William Butler Yeats, Leonard Cohen, and anyone exploring spiritual happenings through art (David).
The distraction you want to eliminate: Constant connectivity. Phones. Emails.
Concrete or marble? So much concrete.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Light.
