David Seth Moltz grew up in Swampscott, Massachusetts

Profile: I was born in an old oceanside New England town called Swampscott in 1980.  There were woods behind my house & ocean 10 minutes in front of it. The smell of the New England ocean (the salty air) will always be home for me.  I love the smell of winter that lingers on you when you come in from the snow, the brown smell of dead leaves and the Salt Spray roses that grow along the beaches.  Many of these early scent memories were catalysts for D.S. & Durga fragrances and continue to inspire me.

I was encouraged to explore – reading, art, film, and in those woods.  My father who is deaf in one ear played loud classical music, blues, and rock n roll all the time in our living room (i.e. the central room of the house with no walls).  My mother writes English text books and my father taught history – so the connection to words, music, and history were always there.

David Seth and Kavi

 

I went to film school at Boston University, but studied a lot of history as well.  I left a lot towards the end to tour with my band.  We all moved to NYC after college to live the dream.  I met my future wife, Kavi on the street (Ave B and 3rd Street to be exact).  We’ve been together ever since.  It was her idea to start a perfume company after I had been tinkering for a few months with archaic recipes. We started our company in 2008. We felt we had a fresh perspective on perfume when we started.  Everyone in Brooklyn was making things (books, clothes, shoes, etc).  We saw an opportunity to flesh out ideas that we were developing in our respective fields of music (me) and architecture (Kavi).  It really became the creative platform for both of us. I feel that I can conjure up entire worlds in a bottle better than I can in a song.

David and Kavi in their Brooklyn Studio

On American Perfumery: I am an American Perfumer.  I am self-taught so my system is quite personal.  I like the spirit of invention in America.  It is a great place to have an idea or a vision and to go for it.  The pioneer mentality is ingrained in us.  For our brand, we came out of the artisanal movement in our interest with slow, high-quality craftsmanship.  I have also made many scents based on Americana themes.  But we never want to do things that only look backward.  Like the American spirit of invention, we continue to try to update and push the boundaries of the field.

Alan Hovenhess was an Armenian/Scottish  American Composer born is Somerville, MA

Favorite American Artist: Alan Hovenhess inspires my work.  He took archaic forms of music (like medieval choral music) and put it in modern settings.  I love the idea of finding hidden things from our past and reworking them into a modern context.  Our HYLNDS line  which we created for Barneys New York  stems  entirely from this idea.

–David Seth Moltz, Perfumer and Co-Founder of D.S. & Durga

Thanks to David Seth and Kavi we have a reader's choice draw for one  USA reader of the following D.S & Durga Fragrances (chosen by Seth David personally): Burning Barbershop, Poppy Rouge (read Valerie Lee Vitale's Poppy Rouge Perfume review here), Coriander,  Isle Ryder (from the HYLANDS Collection which is sold exclusively at for Barneys New York, Read Michael Devine's Reviews here) or Bowmakers. This is a USA draw only. To be eligible, please leave a comment with what you found fascinating about David Seth and your choice of D.S. & Durga Fragrance from the five above (Burning Barbershop,Poppy Rouge, Coriander, Isle Ryder of Bowmakers). Draw ends November 14, 2013.

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