ASPIRANTBALEN
TOP:
RADIANCE
HEART:
AXIOM
BASE:
TRADITION
He led her by the arm into the grand hallway. Passing before the receiving line of commanding officers, the brass buttons on his uniform reflected the light from the ceiling chandeliers. She was only 19, he was 23. You could tell he was proud to have her by his side.
Aspirantbalen is an olfactive reconstruction of Karlberg castle halls, and the night of a cadet ball. At the time of its formulation, Jenny Larsdotter Olsson was going through old photo albums. With every turn of the page, there was a portal to the past. The photograph of a young couple, her mother and father, is an emotional moment captured in time.
Realizing that she, herself, had that very same experience many years later, led her to recreate this special evening, which intimately connects the past to the present.
Her parents had met only a few months earlier, but it seemed meant to be. An axiom. Not only a probability, but a self-evidently truth.
Her father had been accepted at the Military Academy of Karlberg, studying to become an officer. Her mother had just graduated from secondary school. Eyes closed; it all unfolds. The grand castle hall with its parquet floors and book covered walls. Chandeliers and crystals. The table setting and the menu of the evening presented: Crevettes à la Stanley, mallard Montmorency, glaces aux fruits, coffee and chilled punsch. Sharp-cut uniforms and ball gowns in rustling taffeta. The anticipation in the room. The intimacy in between.
It is often said that you know nothing about love when you’re young. But they must have known?
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