Giant spittoon shaped like baptismal basin decorates London office of wine merchant Flint

Cork-topped tables and a marble spittoon feature in the southeast London headquarters of wine merchant Flint, refurbished by the company's architect neighbour Mowat & Company and other hyperlocal collaborators.

Spread across the ground floor of a building on Kennington's Stannary Street, Flint HQ includes a rear office for a team of almost 40 people and a front tasting room for presenting and entertaining.

Having not been updated since 2013, the space was renovated by Mowat & Company, an architecture studio located directly above the wine merchant and specifically chosen for its proximity.

"When we made the decision to stay in Kennington, we went all in," explained Flint managing director Katy Keating. "Not just putting our roots down further here, but also supporting others to do so, too."

"We're fortunate that this corner of London is home to so much talent," she told Dezeen.

Mowat & Company reconfigured the layout to designate zones and improve the building's overall circulation and natural lighting.

Visitors now enter through a slim corridor lined in timber and fluted glass, with the tasting room to the right.

Here, the studio placed a sleek oval meeting table and dark wood chairs by furniture brand Very Good & Proper, headquartered around a 10-minute walk from Flint.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing is concealed behind translucent mauve-tinged curtains, which hang in front of a large freestanding marble spittoon – a receptacle into which unwanted wine is spit during a tasting.

The spittoon was carved from red marble from Burgundy, France, where the merchant's first wines were sourced. Engraved with the Flint logo, the object's statement form is similar to the massive stone fonts used for baptisms.

A hidden butler's pantry with temperature-controlled storage can be accessed in one corner of the room, inserted to save space in the tasting area.

The rear office includes an open-plan, timber-clad kitchen and a large workspace anchored by grey-hued cork-topped tables.

Cork was selected because it is affordable, easy to clean and absorbs sound, Keating explained. The material also nods to wine production.

"Cork comes from a certain type of oak tree, which is essential in wine production, yielding the barrels in which wine is aged and the natural stoppers for the bottles," said Keating.

Oak cabinetry runs along the full length of one of the office walls. Upper and lower cupboards are divided by a back-lit gallery-style display shelf that houses empty wine bottles collected over decades, positioned in evenly spaced, drilled holes.

At the back of the office, glass doors open onto a thin courtyard and garden landscaped by Mowat & Company and Walworth Garden, a community garden centre located minutes from Stannary Street.

Previously overgrown with light-seeking climbers, the garden was redesigned with a stepped planting scheme to allow more sun to enter the interior. Shade-loving native plants were also introduced.

Keating described the rewarding nature of working locally, which can not only minimise a project's carbon footprint but also come in handy in the event of needing a quick fix – for example, when the base for the tasting room table arrived in the wrong size at the last minute.

"Being a Kennington-based business with UK-based craftsmen, Very Good & Proper sorted retooling it over the weekend, and we were able to open on time," she said. "This wouldn't happen in a non-local world."

"Besides wine, our drink is karma," Keating joked.

Other vinicultural projects that have recently been featured on Dezeen include the calming interior of a Brooklyn wine bar in New York City and a Milan showroom for winemaker Masciarelli Tenute Agricole, designed by Eligo Studio to feel warm and homely.

The photography is by Tim Salisbury unless stated otherwise.

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