From photographer to founder.
Jack Lee. Born in Seoul, South Korea.
Starting and growing companies in London since 2020.
Photography as an everyday ritual.
Everything I build begins there.
I studied fashion photography at London College of Fashion, shot the Hermès campaign I had dreamed of in 2018, and went on to work with Samsung, LG, ASICS and more. Photography taught me what makes people stop and respond, and that instinct now sits at the heart of my businesses.
My first company was A2Z Fashion Magazine, founded in 2014 while I was still a student. It went on sale in 10 countries and still runs today as a digital magazine.
In 2020 I founded the production company PLAB Studio, in 2021 the wine brand sofarsogood, and in 2023 CHEEEZ, London’s first Korean-style self-photo studio.
CHEEEZ now has three stores in London, has welcomed 646,925 visitors and holds a 5.0 Google rating across 4,915 reviews. In 2026 it won Gold for Best New Business at the LCCI SME London Business Awards, and it is growing into one of the UK’s most talked-about brands.
As a photographer, I still shoot commercial work and exhibit my own. As a founder, I’m working to take CHEEEZ beyond the US and out to the world.
London is only the beginning.
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
Born
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.
Moves to London
Arrives in London alone — little English, no one he knows — with a camera and one goal: to become a world-class photographer.
Founds A2Z Fashion Magazine
Launches a fashion magazine with friends while still at university. It goes on sale in 20 cities across 10 countries.
Graduates
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.
Plato's Cave — solo exhibition
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.
Hermès campaign
The goal he carried to London in 2012 becomes real: a campaign for Hermès, eight years after he first picked up a camera.
Samsung campaign
Samsung follows, then LG, ASICS, Puma and Reebok: campaigns for global brands, shot from London.
Founds PLAB Studio
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.
Launches sofarsogood
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.
Opens the first CHEEEZ
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 three sites, 646,925 visitors and a 5.0 Google rating across 4,915 reviews.
Relaunches Scale Up
After a two-year break, Scale Up returns: a podcast and YouTube channel on Asian founders building companies in the UK.