Wish you worked here?

AMBIENCE Despite the imminent arrival of Stefano and Domenico themselves for a Dolce & Gabbana party, Mr Porter's sharp-dressing boys and few glamazon girls are too cool to appear flustered. Important-looking video conferences are in full swing in the glass-fronted meeting rooms, while staff at their desks look fashionably studious, quietly tapping away at pristine Mac keyboards. In spite of the mountain of clothes sold on the site there are none cluttering up the office and one gets the sense that photos of partners, children or pets, half-dead spider plants or plastic knick-knacks would be silently removed from desks and disposed of before you could say 'feng shui'.
DRESS CODE 'Preppy is the predominant look - six chambray shirts were worn on the same day recently. Now we let each other know what we're wearing in advance so we don't clash - or, worse, match. Particularly for events,' says head buyer Terry Betts.
THE RULES No eating at events. 'Canapés were the worst invention ever,' says Jeremy Langmead. 'There is nothing more awful than chewing on a prawn right when a client comes over.' Desks have to be tidy. Lamps must be turned on at 5pm in winter to get the lighting just right. Staff should wear Mr Porter brands. 'Although it's lovely to be scruffy in the pub on a Sunday - always remember: you never know who you might bump into!' adds Jeremy.
INTERIOR DESIGN The interiors are designed by Studiofibre, which also created the bespoke furniture. In the reception a Murano glass chandelier hangs above a white leather 'capsule' seating area where visitors wait and staff can eat lunch. Each Frezza desk features an Artemide Anglepoise lamp. There are white studded leather booths used as breakout areas, floor-to-ceiling windows leading to a balcony and a large open space currently used for events (such as the Dolce & Gabbana launch). Jeremy says of his new home: 'It's like a Bond baddie's lair.'
AFTER HOURS 'We went to All Star Bowling Lanes recently,' says Terry. 'It was the most fashionable the alley had ever been - you should have seen the fuss the staff made about the bowling shoes.'

SPUNTINO: tattoos and truffled egg toast
Spuntino is the latest in Russell Norman and Richard Beatty's oh-so-trendy collection of London restaurants (Polpo, Polpetto, Da Polpo). The shabby chic diner on Rupert Street serves sophisticated Italo-American fare - truffled egg toast, meatball sliders - to the Soho it-crowd. From the outside it's more New York speakeasy than gastro hotspot, with the restaurant's name (which means 'snack' in Italian) discreetly scrawled on the rusted metal above the half-frosted windows. But despite this lack of pretension, the nightly queue for tables is testament to the quality of the dining experience (the restaurant takes no bookings and doesn't even have a phone).

AMBIENCE The staff are generally covered in tattoos and rocking a hot grunge look. 'Most of us hang around on the metal scene so that's our style,' explains Sean Blake, a curly-moustached dandy in a low-cut V-neck revealing a densely inked torso. Even at 11am it could be evening in Spuntino, as the gently flickering industrial lantern lights cast a dusky hue across the restaurant's rough edges. 'Hey, sexy,' says Sean to Ahmed, a swarthy James Dean type in a white T-shirt with greased-back black hair and a tattooed neck. 'Yeah, there are a few straight guy bromances going on here,' Sean explains.
DRESS CODE 'It just so happens that most of our staff are tattooed and have piercings. It's not in the job description,' says Russell Norman. 'You can wear whatever to work, though. I'm still waiting for the right time to try out my African gown,' adds Sean.
THE RULES Every customer has to wait in line - even celebrities. And, says Sean, 'The customer is always right - unless they want a mojito. We never make mojitos, they're naff.'
INTERIOR DESIGN Russell, who was operations director of Caprice Holdings before he decided to go it alone in 2009 with Polpo, is behind the design. His concept was based on finding beauty in ugliness: 'Things are stripped back to their raw state,' he explains. 'So lightbulbs deliberately show the filament, the cutlery is something you might find in a prison canteen and the menus are printed on parcel paper.' The bar is pewter-topped, the walls are covered in Victorian glazed bricks and mosaics, and large rusted tin tiles salvaged from a New York warehouse clad the high ceiling.
AFTER HOURS Sean says: 'We'll have a beer and a bourbon after work then go for some drinks at El Camion around the corner with the Polpo kids. It always ends quite merrily as we have a whole night's worth of drinking to catch up on in just two hours - there's no booze on the job.'

MOTHER LONDON: an advertiser's dream
Known as one of the most daring and imaginative advertising agencies in London, Mother's clients include Diet Coke and Ikea and it is the brains behind the famous Stella Artois campaigns and recent match.com TV commercials. Mother was founded in 1996 and is the UK's largest creative agency. Its philosophy is: 'To make great work, have fun and make money. Always in that order.' Mother also has offices in New York and Buenos Aires and the London team moved to its current premises in Shoreditch, designed by Clive Wilkinson Architects, in 2006.

AMBIENCE So trendy it's almost a Nathan Barley pastiche of a creative agency. Prince's 'Purple Rain' plays on the sound system, people with iPads and skinny lattes 'brainstorm' in breakout areas while others sketch ideas on well-doodled notepads.
DRESS CODE 'Come as an individual - it's quite normal for Katie, who writes the blog What Katie Wore, to wear a tutu,' says Sara Tate, head of brand and new business. 'There was once an IT guy who wore board shorts every day.'
THE RULES Every six weeks staff have to move seats, as dictated by a randomly generated seating plan. They have wheelie cabinets to ease this constant motion. They can start their day and leave the office whenever they want.
INTERIOR DESIGN The open-plan reception/cafeteria features visiting artworks - at the moment a large cardboard installation by Horfe, a Paris-based graffiti artist. Staff eat lunch at refectory tables, and on a mezzanine level an entire wall is taken up with large framed portraits of all staff members' mothers. 'You're always trying to impress your mum in life, aren't you? So having all these matriarchs watching over us is very inspiring,' says Sara. There are no doors (except on the bathrooms and one meeting room); the closest thing to privacy comes in the form of plastic curtains that can be drawn around circular 'breakout areas' or a
large metal 'cage' in which the runners and interns work. On the main creative floor most staff sit around an 8ft-wide reinforced-concrete slab table that snakes for 300ft like a skateboard ramp around the entire floor.
AFTER HOURS People mainly hang out at The Owl & the Pussycat on Redchurch Street or by the pool at Shoreditch House. At Christmas, the partners cook dinner for everyone: 'It's like a real family Christmas, including terrible knitwear.'

THE FUTURE LABORATORY: chic geeks
This trend forecasting and brand innovation consultancy is inspired by the author William Gibson's assertion that 'the future is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed'. Sounds fascinating, but what does Future Lab actually do? The central premise is to 'look at the niche, the different and the deviant to help clients to know what is new and next in consumer thinking'. Got it? Good. Founders Chris Sanderson and Martin Raymond have backgrounds in media, marketing and the luxury sector. They recruit researchers 'to find interesting things', and analysts to 'turn info into an output'.

AMBIENCE For a company all about future thinking, the office feels quaint rather than cutting-edge. Futurologists have pots of tea on their desks and Jasper, the black Labrador, sits at the feet of his favourite staff members. Most employees are busily employed reading Monocle magazine and design books for inspiration.
DRESS CODE Preppy-meets-street-style for the boys (or 'The new gent' as Future Lab terms it). Think button-down check shirts teamed with rolled-up jeans and brogues or designer trainers. Staff wear lab coats when hosting events such as biannual trend briefings.
THE RULES No eating at desks - 'We like to encourage people to be sociable and prepare their own food in the shared kitchen.' Follow Chris Anderson's - Wired (US) editor - email charter, which contains advice such as 'slash surplus ccs', 'short and slow is not rude' and 'quash open-ended questions'. See emailcharter.org.
INTERIOR DESIGN The company moved into a Georgian townhouse in Shoreditch in July. On entering through an unmarked barn door, you're confronted first with a 'vertical garden' growing tomatoes, peppers and salad leaves, all of which are picked and enjoyed by staff in the communal kitchen. In the reception area an ottoman is painted white for a vaguely clinical feel, while some trendy bits of art in boxes remind you this is a company as creative as it is scientific. Cork, hessian and tiling, clean lines and neutral colours give the workspace a kind of Scandi simplicity that, combined with the array of imagery affixed to every wall, can't fail to inspire.
AFTER HOURS A bar is currently being built in the kitchen area. In the meantime staff hang out in Shoreditch bars or at each other's houses for beers and Wii tournaments.

SJ BERWIN: raising the bar
Southwark Bridge, SJ Berwin specialises in media, financial and property law and prides itself on being 'pretty cool' - an unusual claim for a law firm.
AMBIENCE Shhhh! You could hear a pin drop in this place. The 'Keep Calm and Carry On' posters hanging above some desks say it all. There are opportunities to chill at the swanky in-house restaurant, Stanley's, though. There's also a ping-pong table and a roof terrace where weary legal eagles can sunbathe and compare case notes.
DRESS CODE Stylish and smart business attire, apart from Fridays when staff get a chance to break out their chinos.
THE RULES Staff do charity work such as reading with children at a local school and running fundraising events. There is a sleeping pod because lawyers, and even interns, sometimes work all night on deals.
INTERIOR DESIGN There are Michael Craig-Martin neon prints, a Deconstructing Seurat animation in the foyer and a different-coloured fluorescent lighting scheme on each floor. But privacy is paramount for big-money deals, so lawyers work two to a private (glass-doored) office - facing away from each other: 'It's good feng shui.' The building, which won a British Council for Offices award in 2006 for the best recycled building in London, offers its 800 staff a massive 200sq ft per occupant. More than enough space to swing a fat cat.
AFTER HOURS The culture is work hard, play hard. The Banker pub is the spot for
team nights out. ES