The art of artisan wine vinegars...

You haven’t seen my amazing mother yet!’ exclaims Jonathan Brown of Cult Ceramics. Blond and beaming, he refers not to his parent but the culture turning ethanol into acetic acid for his artisan vinegar range. ‘It has the look and feel of a jellyfish.’

I meet Brown and his collaborator, Billy Lloyd, at the cobbled Iliffe Yard among the Pullens Buildings in Walworth. Built as live-work units, one-time occupants include a seven-year-old Charlie Chaplin. Today the yard houses the workshop of Lloyd — a member of The New Craftsmen collective co-founded by law school dropout turned chairman of Gieves & Hawkes, Mark Henderson, to bring specialist craftmakers to the luxury market.

‘Jonathan arrived in my studio last July clasping an enormous crock of potent wine vinegar,’ he recalls. ‘His passion for vinegar, wine and craft was infectious. We set about giving the rustic French farmhouse vinaigrier a radical overhaul so home users could convert wine dregs into vinegar.’

Both Brown and Lloyd loved the idea of making the resulting vinegar vase hexagonal. ‘Six sides represent the six stages of alcohol, starter, oxygen, time, vessel and enjoyment of the product. So, that’s the design language sorted.’

Launched during London Craft Week, the kit features a British-made, porcelain pot with a red or blue lid, starter culture, recipe book and ‘how-to’ guide. An intriguing alternative to a tap, which could clog or attract flies, a syringe-like pipette is used to retrieve the vinegar. ‘Ritual-like, you strip off vinegar with a wine thief,’ Brown says.

As well as encouraging users to make home blends, Brown builds ready-made vinegars including one from a 1998 Fronsac bought at auction, ‘which may sound a bizarre business model’. The result is deep with umami. I also loved his apple cider tonic imbued with a burst of turmeric, ginger, chilli and raw honey.

Vinegar and kits available at cultceramics.co.uk