Fortnum & Mason Sugar Hamper
Fortnum & Mason wicker hamper made out of sugar by food artist: Michelle Wibowo
The Brief
Fortnum & Mason in London is famous for its luxury hampers, fine teas, gourmet foods and long-standing royal warrants as a grocer and tea merchant.
Their window display at their flagship historic department store at 181 Piccadilly always draws visitors to London.
This Autumn, they came up with the idea to celebrate the art of creating the perfect hamper by inviting eight fine artists to reimagine their iconic hamper in their own style, using a raw material other than the original wicker.
I was thrilled to be invited as one of the artists to take part in this amazing collaboration.
Creative Process
The process began with researching and studying the original wicker hamper and the goodies inside. As it turned out, getting the texture right was the absolute key. Sugar is a versatile material, but it can also be stubborn and sensitive to humidity and temperature.
Michelle Wibowo working on a Fortnum & Mason hamper made out of sugar
Capturing the classic, tactile nature of the wicker weave required a lot of trial and error.
I started by building an MDF structure and painting it black. I rolled, shaped, and textured hundreds of individual strands of sugar to mimic the woven willow effect, hand-painting them carefully to achieve that warm, authentic wicker tone.
Attention to detail is everything in this line of work, right down to the tiny sugar buckles, straps, and the miniature contents nestled inside. It is slow, painstaking work that requires a lot of patience, but seeing it all come together piece by piece is tremendously rewarding.
The bottle and Jam jar pose another challenge to make them look realistic.
Food artist Michelle Wibowo working on the finer details of a wine bottle moulded from sugar
I created a mould, filled it with icing sugar, and once it cured, removed the mould and smoothed the surface, then made it glossy with edible food spray.
I made the tea and chocolate truffle boxes from coloured sugar paste. The trick was matching the colour and keeping the edges sharp and precise.
Hand-painted details on the biscuit tin
For the box labels, I scanned the original and reprinted them on sugar paper. I had to repaint the border using edible gold and silver paint.
The wood wool used to protect delicate items inside the hamper was also edible; I cut and coloured it from rice paper.
An intricate sugar-sculpted hamper and its content, complete with a bottle, chocolate truffle box, and biscuit tin.
Final reflection
Looking back, this project was quite a journey of problem-solving and perseverance, as working with sugar always tends to be. But seeing people's reactions when they discover that the entire hamper is edible made every single challenging hour in the studio worthwhile.
It was an absolute privilege to collaborate with a team that appreciates traditional craftsmanship so deeply, and I'm thrilled I could translate such a cherished British tradition into a medium as sweet as sugar.
Sugar artist Michelle Wibowo and her creation: the Fortnum & Mason hamper, moulded and sculpted in sugar
Visit The Art of Hamper at Fortnum & Mason Department Store, 181 Piccadilly, London, until October 2026
