D.S. & Durga’s personalised online quiz, which aids in finding a scent from the cult American perfume brand, informs me I’m a ‘beach goth’. (The multiple-choice questionnaire asks if I prefer ‘Renaissance or Bauhaus’; ‘Marley or the Stones’; ‘tea, or coffee’, amongst other things).
This assessment feels correct. I moved to LA for the sun and the sand but somehow live in Echo Park – a world away from the ocean by the city’s standards. And on the day I meet D.S. & Durga’s co-founder Kavi Moltz – the ‘Durga’ to David Moltz, the brand’s, ‘D.S.’ – at its second Los Angeles location in Silver Lake which opened this month (December 2024), I’m dressed all in black, as is she. ‘I told David it’s funny he didn’t formulate the quiz results for ‘beach goth’ around me,’ she says. ‘But I never get it, because I choose tea over coffee.’
Inside D.S. & Durga’s new Silver Lake store, inspired by Ray Kappe’s 1960s Californian home
D.S & Durga was founded by the husband and wife duo in 2008, becoming known for its unique and immersive fragrances, such as ‘Pistachio’, ‘Burning Barbershop’ and ‘Cowboy Grass’, each created in the brand’s Brooklyn-based studio. It was a decade before its physical presence expanded beyond these walls. ‘Retail was always part of our vision,’ says Kavi Moltz. ‘As a former architect, I was always interested in using these two loves of mine – physical space and perfume.’
After New York, California was always going to be D.S. & Durga’s second home, with the state providing a constant source of inspiration. Its most popular candle, ‘Big Sur After Rain’, a eucalyptus leaf and wet wood-based tribute to the place Kavi and David regularly holiday, was also recently translated into a perfume, ‘Big Sur Eucalyptus’. Silver Lake was Kavi and David’s first choice for a retail location in the city, but they had trouble finding somewhere that worked for their vision. So last summer (2023), they unveiled a debut West Coast boutique in Venice. Designed by Woods Bagot, it pays tribute to modernist architect John Lautner, whilst honouring its beach-side locale with the earthier, sandy tones of plaster and wood.
The Silver Lake store, also by Woods Bagot, takes a similar approach, with uniquely Californian elements. The use of a beautiful, warm-toned wood references Kavi Moltz’ time studying architecture in LA, at a school founded by renowned architect Ray Kappe. ‘He invited a few students to view his house [in the Pacific Palisades] and it had so much of this dreamy California, honey pine-coloured wood. It’s the most beautiful house you’ll ever see – exactly what you’d think of when you think of a high-design and the California hippie movement.’
A hand-poured concrete treatment, which creates tonal, striped layers, is another signature feature (included in every store except D.S. & Durga’s first) and can be seen at the cash wrap. Behind the register is the ‘lab wall’, nodding to David’s Brooklyn perfume lab. There are black lacquered surfaces, programmable coloured lights to match the vibe of each highlighted perfume, plus clear acrylic spiked panels. Artist Leah Tinari, who regularly collaborates with D.S. & Durga, flew in from New York to hand-paint the store’s glass front.
When it comes to perfume, some people stick to a signature scent – or style – while others experiment. Kavi almost exclusively wears ‘Durga’, the scent David created for her; he changes fragrances almost daily, to offset the weather. ‘Generally, people like a heavier, warmer, spicier, earthier scent in the winter, and something more fresh, aquatic, citrusy, beachy, spring, and floral in spring and summer,’ Kavi says. ‘David often does the opposite and wears something like ‘Italian Citrus’ in February to feel as though you’re brightening up a winter’s day. Or if you’re dressed to the nines, but it’s June, maybe you put on something a little heavier to make the mood a little more serious so it doesn’t just feel like a beach day.’
Scent layering is intrinsic to the brand. Its best-selling perfume, ‘I Don’t Know What’, is a fragrance enhancer that blends easily with others. ‘In perfume, there are top notes, heart notes, and base notes,’ Kavi explains. ‘David says that ‘I Don’t Know What’ has no heart; it’s like the structure of a perfume without the substance in the middle, so you can wear any other with it. It’s one we think everyone should have in their perfume wardrobe.’ To encourage layering amongst its customers, the brand recently created a ‘Murder Mystery Set’, which comes with five different mini perfumes – which Kavi and David describe as ‘characters’ – all of which include a touch of ‘I Don’t Know What’ in their profiles.
‘Perfume is Armchair Travel,’ reads D.S. & Durga’s tagline. Each scent from the brand can be associated with a place, a playlist or piece of music, a spectrum of colour or even certain times of the day. Everyone who works at one of its stores is personally trained by David, to provide a retail experience in keeping with its storytelling, so they can find a match for anyone who walks inside. ‘Our ultimate goal is that someone comes in and within this sea of bottles that look similar, they’ll find a connection to something,’ he says.
To mark the opening of the Venice store last year, the brand released a candle called ‘Pacific Mythic’, based on what David Moltz says is an East Coast kids’ dream of the Venice Boardwalk. ‘The surf shops... What you imagine the boardwalk to smell like with the chaos and colourful characters around,’ he notes. ‘It’s desert-like and a little bit coastal.’ But despite the obvious differences between New York and LA, Kavi says the top sellers in both cities are surprisingly similar. ‘Although, when I was in our Venice store last week, two people came in looking for ‘The Carlyle’, a perfume we made with the iconic hotel in New York. I love that people use the opportunity to travel through scent and take home a piece of NYC with them.’
D.S. & Durga Silverlake, Sunset Row, 3300 Sunset Blvd Unit 101, Los Angeles, CA 90026.
