Soru Lee is an award-winning artist, illustrator and author of picture books. Soru's gentle, quiet and thoughtful works have seen her collaborate with clients including SheerLuxe, Partnership Editions, Samsung, and Hôtel Magique. Even with the lightest of touches, Soru Lee achieves a feeling of warmth and texture. Her work was selected from the World Illustration Award, iJungle Illustration Awards, and Bologna Children's Book Fair.
AWARDS
2026 Bologna Children's Book Fair Finalist
2025 Blue Shop Galleries Works On Paper 7 Winner
2025 Hôtel Magique x Hotel BonSol Artist Call Winner
2023 World Illustration Award Winner
2022 Partnership Editions Open Call Winner
2022 iJungle Illustration Awards Books Merit Award
PRESS
“Soru’s work feels gentle, quiet and thoughtful. We are especially drawn to the transcendental Silent II. Even with the lightest touches Soru Lee achieves a feeling of warmth and texture. We seek to bring these qualities to our own work so we admire it when we find it in others.”
⏤ Emaily Potter & Iwan Halstead, Daytrip Studio
“Based in Seoul, South Korea, Soru Lee is an artist who also illustrates picture books. Her images are intended to be intuitive and focus on our relationship with nature, many of which are inspired by her own personal experiences. By spending time walking, Soru finds time to reflect on who she is and later translates these moments of self-reflection onto the canvas – it’s no surprise much of her work is full of hope and comfort.”
⏤ Sheerluxe
“This work makes me feel calm just looking at it. Soru’s work has such mediative quality and her subtle use of colour and mark making is so effective in creating a mood and feeling.”
⏤ Georgia Spray, Partnership Editions
“Soru’s uncomplicated, beautiful works had a tranquil quality about them that I was drawn to. I could instantly see them up in my house.”
⏤ Yomi Adegoke, The Guardian
PUBLICATIONS
2024 "Blumenhaus Issue 5", Blumenhaus, UK
2024 "Volume V of Limoeiro Real", Limoeiro Real Revista, Portugal
2024 "Le Immagini della Fantasia 42", Fondazione Štěpán Zavřel, Italy
2023 "Double Volume Issue 32-33", ArtMaze, UK
2023 "World Illustration Awards 2023", AOI, UK
2022 "Big Present", SomyMedia, South Korea
EXHIBITIONS
2026 224, 424, KT&G Sangsangmadang Hongdae, Seoul
2025 The Journey, Shilla Monogram Hotel, Gangneung
2025 Asian Festival of Children's Content, Singapore Book Council, Singapole
2025 Works On Paper 7, The Blue Shop Gallery, London
2025 Le Immagini della Fantasia 42, The Štěpán Zavřel Foundation, Italy
2024 The Exhibition of Picture Book, Move.mov Seongsu, Seoul
2024 The London Book Fair, Olympia London, London
2024 World Illustration Awards Touring Exhibition, Art + Design Gallery, London
2024 World Illustration Awards Touring Exhibition, The Levinsky Gallery, London
2023 Flea Auction Artist Story, Flea Auction
2023 Oasis of Color, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York
2022 Partnership Editions Open Call Winner, FRMD Gallery, London
2022 Casa Balandra Open Studio, Casa Balandra, Spain
2022 Exhibition of Soru Lee's First Picturebook 『The Big Present』, B-Platform, Seoul
SELECTED CLIENTS
SheerLuxe
Partnership Editions
Samsung
Hôtel Magique
Hotel BonSol
Artfully Walls
Blue Shop Gallery
Blumenhaus Magazine
Avaacha