The Sweet Taste of Mutant Mice

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s one question Tom gets asked a lot: ‘Er, why?’ Here, so no one need ask again, he explains what has led him to turn a controversial feat of 1990s bioengineering into a distinctly unappetising range of confectionery…

“Sugar craft has been around for ages. Confectionery is beyond popular; it appeals to a basic human need. Sugar occurs naturally in food such as ripe fruit. In the wild, when fruit is ripe, it tastes good so it gets eaten. The relocation, deposit and fertilisation provided to the seed in the fruit by the consumer and their digestive tract allows an opportunity for both parties to prosper as a species. To live requires energy, and organisms need to reproduce. Sugar is an essential element in the transactions of organic life on the planet: elegant economics. It’s from these mechanisms that confectionery draws its allure.

For me, the development of the refined sugar we have today represents a pretty formidable aspect of human progression. The deconstruction of nature and development of scientific understanding makes it possible to increase control and power over naturally available resources. Sugar becomes reduced to a chemical rather than an ingredient. It has become similar to a drug, where its use in consumables could be taxed, like nicotine or alcohol. The heritage of the sugar trade has also had a huge impact on social history, with associations with the slave trade and the Industrial Revolution. Humanity has frequently been lost in the name of progress.

The process of consuming sugar has changed radically. I'm torn between loving the idea of something that has such universal appeal and has no prejudice, but then I’m concerned about the effect of having such immediate access to something we want but has been so abstracted from its natural custodians. Sugarmice are a British institution, stretching back generations. As tastes have changed they have become outdated. Even so, the recipe and techniques involved with their production are a carefully guarded secret among those who continue to manufacture them. It’s interesting that in a culture of super-sweet juices and high-street coffee shops serving drinks containing 25 spoonfuls of sugar, the idea of biting down on a near-solid block of pure crystallised sugar is seen as a step too far – too overt, I’m presuming.

In the late ’90s an image of a laboratory mouse with what looked like a human ear growing from its back began to be circulated, mostly via email, among the rapidly growing online community. This was the Vacanti mouse, developed in the Department of Anesthesiology at MIT. It prompted public outcry at the perceived horrors of genetic modification. For better or worse, the implications of such experiments and further developments in biotechnology and engineering continue to play a crucial role in the future development of the human race.

I was interested in finding a way of employing sugar’s properties as a building material. It has taken years of research, trial and error to identify the processes and techniques involved with the production of these sugarmice. Alongside, I’ve ended up with a wealth of collateral information that I’m now working into other projects. For me, it’s really entertaining as a near-totally useless offshoot of a larger scientific discourse, one that has resulted in a product that is about as far from natural food as I can create. Saying that, it’s extremely important to me that these are entirely edible. Then it’s down to the consideration of the consumer. Sure you can eat it, but do you really want to?

I’ve been working in the Blackhorse studios since the beginning of the year, using some of their facilities. More than anything it’s been a pleasure working within a culture of innovation and what feels like a place of social responsibility and open-mindedness. This is my first market with them where I will be sharing a stall with Morven Mulgrew who has a line of leather goods.

These are, after all, a product to be consumed but I like that they present a bit of a challenge. It’s like a game that relies on the customer to choose what to do, whether to eat or keep it; are they nice or nasty? A treat or an ordeal? Pointless or poignant? Are they good or are they bad? I’d love to see them at the Science Museum or in the Wellcome collection. Or Tesco. Anywhere they could contribute to how people thought about what they consume. Maybe in Fortnum and Mason next to some organic raspberries and a picture of a skin graft operation.”

Below 1: Many Options – A cross section of the world of food additives as represented in the display of the Wilton Method School for Cake Decorating. 2: Sexy Confectionery – Eat with your eyes. I love the colours and textures in this corner above the entrance to Wiltons. 3: Clean Room – The kitchen has to be immaculate in order to have a controlled production process. 4: The Girls – These are my precious masters that I've sculpture to make the moulds. The polished brass spikes are used to form vent holes. I tried moulding a real ear once but it was way massive. These ears were originally modelled in plasticine and then remoulded in a gypsum polymer. 5: Ghosts – The sugar mice are an odd shape and the mixture does not last long before crystallisation makes it unusable. The moulds have been specially developed for minimum heat retention, as well as vents to minimise bubble risk. 6: Gas – Kitchen utensils are not removed from laboratory equipment. My bunsen burner is an effective source of controllable heat. 7: Temperature – Accurate temperature control, timing and mixture aggravation is key to achieving the right mouse consistency. 8: First Win – This was a big day in the Lindow research and development facility.