Award
CHEEEZ wins Gold — Best New Business
JackLee
ScrollJack Lee; Founder of CHEEEZ, the UK’s No.1 photobooth brand, and of A2Z Fashion Magazine, PLAB Studio and sofarsogood. Photographer, speaker and host of Scale Up.
About Jack →
→CHEEEZ
→A2Z Fashion
Magazine
Magazine
→PLAB Studio
→Scale Up
→sofarsogood
→Portfolio
From the ground,one by one
1989
Born
Seoul
Born in Seoul to a businessman father and a soprano mother — the eldest son of an eldest son. Responsibility came early, and so did the idea that work could be both a business and an art.
2012
Moves to London
London
Arrives in London alone — little English, no one he knows — with a camera and one goal: to become a world-class photographer.
2014
Founds A2Z Fashion Magazine
London
Launches a fashion magazine with friends while still at university. It goes on sale in 20 cities across 10 countries.
2015
Graduates
London
Starts BA Fashion Photography at the bottom of his class. The language and the culture are both new, and he works his way through them. He graduates as one of the top students of his year, with his work selected for the LCFBA15 graduate show.
News & Stories
Speaking &Partnerships
Jack Lee grew CHEEEZ to four London stores and 646,925 visitors. He works with brands expanding between Korea and the UK, speaks on scaling a physical business, and hosts founders on Scale Up.
Partnership and investment, Scale Up guests, speaking — every message is read by Jack and answered within 48 hours.
Jack's Story
Scroll
From photographer to founder.
Jack Lee. Born in Seoul, South Korea.
Starting and growing companies in London since 2020.
I moved to London in 2012 with a camera and one goal: to become a world-class photographer.
I studied fashion photography at London College of Fashion, and in 2014, still a student, I founded A2Z Fashion Magazine. It went on sale in 10 countries, and it still runs today as a digital magazine.
In 2017 I held my first solo exhibition, Plato's Cave, in Seoul. It marked the start of my work as an artist, and I have kept exhibiting my personal work ever since.
In 2018, eight years after I first picked up a camera, I shot the campaign I had dreamed of: Hermès. Since then I have shot campaigns for global brands including Samsung, LG, ASICS, Puma and Reebok.
In 2020 I started PLAB Studio, a production company, and in 2021 the wine brand sofarsogood. In 2023 I opened CHEEEZ, London’s first Korean-style self-photo studio, built so that anyone can enjoy having their picture taken.
CHEEEZ now has four stores in London. It has welcomed 646,925 visitors and holds a 5.0 Google rating across 4,915 reviews.
As a photographer, I still shoot commercial work and exhibit my own. As a founder, my goal is to take CHEEEZ beyond the UK, starting with the US and the Middle East.
Exhibitions
- 2026Re-Place KOPPEL Collective, London, UK
- 20224482 [Ten] Hope Gallery Oxo, London, UK
- 20194482 The Other Side of the Moon Bargehouse, London, UK
- 20184482 Butterfly Effect Bargehouse, London, UK
- 2017Plato's Cave — Solo Exhibition ADM Gallery, Seoul, Korea
- 2015Kanaval Camden Image Gallery, London, UK
LCFBA15 Press Exhibition 3/10 Shoreditch High Street, London, UK - 2014ArtCube Black & White Atlantis, London, UK
4482 Symposium Bargehouse, London, UK - 2013Saatchi Gallery London, UK
RAW Natural Born Artist Showcase & Exhibition London, UK
From the ground,one by one
1989
Born
Seoul
Born in Seoul to a businessman father and a soprano mother — the eldest son of an eldest son. Responsibility came early, and so did the idea that work could be both a business and an art.
2012
Moves to London
London
Arrives in London alone — little English, no one he knows — with a camera and one goal: to become a world-class photographer.
2014
Founds A2Z Fashion Magazine
London
Launches a fashion magazine with friends while still at university. It goes on sale in 20 cities across 10 countries.
2015
Graduates
London
Starts BA Fashion Photography at the bottom of his class. The language and the culture are both new, and he works his way through them. He graduates as one of the top students of his year, with his work selected for the LCFBA15 graduate show.
2017
Plato's Cave — solo exhibition
Seoul
After a string of group shows in London, including at the Saatchi Gallery, he brings his first solo exhibition, Plato's Cave, home to ADM Gallery in Seoul.
2018
Hermès campaign
London
The goal he carried to London in 2012 becomes real: a campaign for Hermès, eight years after he first picked up a camera.
2019
Samsung campaign
London
Samsung follows, then LG, ASICS, Puma and Reebok: campaigns for global brands, shot from London.
2020
Founds PLAB Studio
London
Starts PLAB Studio, a production company, and goes on to produce projects with Son Heung-min, BLACKPINK and many other names, and campaigns for global brands including Frieze and Jo Malone London.
2021
Launches sofarsogood
London
To celebrate his marriage, he ticks off a bucket-list item: a wine of his own. Made with a winery in the Languedoc, France, in a limited run of 700 bottles.
2023
Opens the first CHEEEZ
London
To make photography part of everyday life, he launches CHEEEZ, London’s first Korean-style self-photo studio, on Tottenham Court Road in central London. Now four sites, 646,925 visitors and a 5.0 Google rating across 4,915 reviews.
2026
Relaunches Scale Up
London / Seoul
After a two-year break, Scale Up returns: a podcast and YouTube channel on Asian founders building companies in the UK.