Based in southeast London, Saffron Frameworks was started by Matthew Sowter — who learned his trade at Enigma Bikes.
Sowter was born in Cape Town and worked as a fine dining chef before switching careers. He now specializes in custom builds, with each machine tailored to client specifications and physiology.
It’s an approach that has paid off for Saffron, with multiple awards from the Bespoked Handmade Bike Show — considered to be Europe’s premier bike show dedicated to custom bicycles.
Matthew Sowter’s former career as a chef is remembered on the head tube of the frames he builds and his workshop’s name: Saffron Frameworks. Crocus Sativus was an often-used ingredient but these days he serves up light and tight dishes of Columbus XCr.
Spend more than a few years at something and you’ll inevitably start infusing it with your individual flavour — no matter how subtle — even if you’re producing the same product as everyone else. Since establishing Saffron Frameworks in 2009, Matthew Sowter’s portfolio has developed a distinctive personal style of excellent craftsmanship and distinct finishes,…
After a muddy Sunday in Hell, Paris-Roubaix is over for another year. Simultaneously, Saffron Frameworks’ Matthew Sowter returned to the classics himself with this all-day…
This is the second bike Saffron Frameworks has built for Rad, and it’s very similar to the first, which was unfortunately stolen a couple of…
It’s been both a scorching summer in the southern hemisphere and a severe winter in the northern. To battle against it, Julian requested a CX…
The legendary Supermarine Spitfire formed the backbone of the RAF and other Allied airforces during World War II, and was a contributing factor in their…
Bending steel with bare hands is a talent not exclusive to a superman — many frame builders also do so on a regular basis. The…
The ninth edition of the Brooklyn Red Hook Crit race is about to kick off, spitting dozens of male and female racers into the looping…
If you’re a frame builder, you’re dedicated to building dream bikes for your customers. But what dream bike would you build for yourself? The inspiration…
Snow in Los Angeles, tornadoes in Texas, floods in Yorkshire… It seems the weather is getting more an more topsy-turvy with every passing month. But…
The 2016 The Spoken Custom Bicycle Calendar became available for sale yesterday. The cover is adorned with a photo of an inside fork leg, painted…
If you somehow managed to get all of David Gwyther’s — A.K.A Death Spray Custom — artwork in one room at the same time, the…
The Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier was once quoted as saying “The house is a machine for living” — an insight into his somewhat totalitarian philosophies.…
England’s new school of custom frame builders are but freshers to a hallowed institution, but their antecedents can rest assured: the craft and skill is…
When it comes to bicycle design and fabrication, Matthew Sowter of London’s Saffron Frameworks is definitely a free thinker. He produces some of the most…
