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…
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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…