25 Years of Making It Up
The Rosie Lee Story
Rosie Lee was born on Haberdasher Street just opposite Cheap Booze. Cheap Booze is a well known and much loved off-licence in Shoreditch, London. To outward appearances it is just an off licence but it is actually the hub of a collective of creative artists. Cheap Booze is run by Earl, who is a musician and one half of the legendary musical act DJ Hype and MC Daddy Earl.
2000: The Beginning
In the creative melting pot of East London, back then you wouldn't really walk across the square late at night, Rosie Lee was born. Founded in 2000, I hoped it would be a creative collective that would bring together my photographer, product designer and illustrator friends.
Mandy was instrumental in supporting me to start the business, standing by me through the ups and downs over the years. She also played a direct role in the work, serving as the makeup artist on key football photoshoots.
We began operating from our flat in Haberdasher Street. When we got wind of a few projects, we moved to the basement of Blicks, a hairdresser's on Paul Street. I remember sometimes blowing hair off some of the presentation decks we put together!
Rob joined at the start, and Toni came aboard a bit later, bringing invaluable organisational skills and deep football knowledge that would prove essential for our formative projects with Nike. There's a memorable story of Toni surprising the Manchester United team with her extensive understanding of football and history, and another of her turning red-faced while helping Mandy rub glycerine on players' skin to make them glow and appear sweaty for action shots.
Early Client Work
Our first project was working for Haywire, Andrew Weatherall's label. It was great to become friends and hang out in his studio on Scrutton Street at the time. He was incredibly witty and dry with obscure insights, and chilling in his studio was never uneventful.
Next, our defining early relationship was with Nike UK for our second project, the "Nike Geo Merlin Vapor: The Ball Must Die" campaign, led by Jack Gold, took a non-traditional approach to storytelling, based on the journals of an obsessive goalkeeper, that set the tone for future work. The depth of content we produced for the book to be used throughout the campaign was one of our earliest collaborations with Nike. This approach to campaign graphics was most definitely not the norm in football at the time, and cemented our approach to storytelling.
While Nike was our main client, we also began to diversify early on. Dean Evans introduced me to Making Waves, leading to work on NUS Ents creative, who in turn had Sony Computer Entertainment as one of their main clients when PlayStation 2 was in its prime. At that time Russell was on the client side. One project we worked on together was a national gaming tournament for Tekken 4 where players battled it out for the title of King of Iron Fist. Rosie Lee designed posters, flyers and event materials but the real story here is the beginning of our working relationship that has been ongoing for the last 24-25 years.
Our third project with Nike was for Rio Ferdinand, then considered to be the most expensive player in the world. The campaign was titled "Everywhere at Once" and focussed on Rio's omnipotence on the pitch. By making Rio appear ever-present and impossible to pass, we drew a connection between player excellence and product excellence.
At that time, the standard approach to athlete photography was quite static. Despite limited time with athletes, we pioneered ways to create compelling visual narratives that resonated deeply with both the athletes and their clubs, encouraging greater participation in our photoshoots.
Russell would later join the team in 2003, bringing a valuable style of work and strategic thinking to the creative process and problem-solving. His contributions would prove particularly important for upcoming projects.
It was during these sports-focused projects that Mandy introduced the team to Sylvie Champenois, who helped produce these shoots. Sylvie's calm organisation and expert "kitten herding" proved invaluable during those intense shoots with high-profile athletes.
The work with Arsenal further showcased our ability to blend heritage with contemporary relevance. For Arsenal's final year at Highbury stadium in 2006, we faithfully recreated a classic 1913 team photo with the current players, shot by Doug Fisher, adding elements of humour while respecting the club's history. This campaign extended beyond simple photography into a range of collectible merchandise and retail experiences that became collector's items for fans.
The Hoxton Square Years
After the basement on Paul Street, we moved to Hoxton Square, placing us at the centre of East London's vibrant creative scene. It was during this time that key designers joined the team - Lung (Chris Harris), Wai, Dieter, and later Joe joined Russell as part of the project team, bringing diverse creative talents that would help shape Rosie Lee's distinctive output.
It was an amazing time to be in the area, surrounded by digital studios, DJs, producers, misfits and alley cats and cultural figures like Irvine Welsh and Jarvis Cocker frequenting the local pubs. Andrew was regularly playing Haywire Sessions nearby, adding to the eclectic vibe. The 24-hour buzz of the neighbourhood, with its constant opportunities to bump into interesting people, provided endless inspiration and great late-night conversations.
Whilst in this studio we did a series of campaigns for Man Utd, Celtic, England Rugby and a second Arsenal kit launch titled 'Football has a new home'.
Back in 1913, a small football club called Woolwich Arsenal was struggling to maintain its place in the Second Division. 93 years later it was one of the most successful clubs in Europe and had outgrown its beloved Highbury stadium. We were charged with developing a campaign to place the Nike brand at the heart of buzz surrounding the stadium move.
For the campaign concept we dramatised the relocation, capturing a series of shots that showed the players walking to their new home in a hero-like procession. We went to great effort to convey the excitement and anticipation around the move, whilst at the same time paying respect to the massive importance of Highbury in Arsenal's history.
We had permits and were going to shoot on the street, but had to change plans last minute. Tom Van Heel did an incredible job, working out all the complex angles and compositions.
Evolution and Growth
Before establishing Rosie Lee, I had founded a company called Happy Tomorrow, which would now be called a 'boutique agency' with a very strong aesthetic. This experience informed our approach, especially after working with Nike on the 'Ball Must Die' campaign, which helped crystallise our core philosophy: storytelling would be at the heart of our work, while aesthetics would be allowed to evolve naturally with each project.
I learned an important lesson from my earlier work: having too strong a design aesthetic could be limiting. After the success of the 'Ball Must Die' campaign, we became intensely focused on storytelling. I used to say "it's like a one-inch punch" - while Nike with W+K were producing epic TV spots, we had to convey all the emotion, might and innovation of an athlete, club or product into compelling images. This approach became our distinctive strength in the creative scene at the time.
In 2009, we returned to Hoxton Square, but this time in a different office. Hoxton Square and its surrounding streets felt like our spiritual home. At the time most of us had been working, partying and living in the area and all had the stereotypical chat about 'how much Shoreditch has changed'. Before Rosie Lee moved in, this new space had been used as a fitness studio with mirrors along the entire length of one wall. One of its main uses was as a dojo, and it still had the remnants of a worn sign that read "Bow Before Entering." We chose to leave the sign there as an artefact of what had been, and enjoyed the sense of pride it instilled in us about our work as we entered the studio each day.
Challenges and Growth
The early days of Rosie Lee weren't without challenges. One of the biggest was trying not to get "rumbled" – as we took on increasingly significant projects, we had to prevent clients from visiting our studio to avoid revealing how small our operation really was at the time. This strategy of appearing larger than we were allowed us to compete for and win substantial projects while still operating with minimal resources.
In the early days, we enjoyed being disruptive, perhaps a little too much in hindsight, but it served us well at the time. This approach to both company culture and creative work became firmly cemented in our DNA. Our first website exemplified this spirit - based on an illustration created by Lung, it featured his distinctive illustrative style bringing in hand-drawn representations of our work, clients, interests and many other relevant and irrelevant things. The website deliberately did very little in the name of interaction, except for a few easter eggs like wrestlers that jostled and grunted when the mouse hovered over them.
Rather than focus on appearances, we concentrated on what mattered most: consistently delivering great work. This philosophy of letting the quality of our output speak for itself became the foundation of Rosie Lee's reputation and growth. Over time, as our portfolio expanded, the size of our operation became less relevant as clients came to trust in our capabilities based on results.
After those initial Nike projects, we achieved what I describe as "escape velocity" – we grew and evolved rapidly, steering an avalanche. This accelerated growth required Russell, Joe and Tom to implement more structure and systems to effectively manage the expanding business. What had begun as a small collective operating from a basement had transformed into a proper agency with the need for more formal organisation to handle its success.
The relationship with Nike continued to flourish from beyond sports into 'lifestyle' working in London sneaker stores like Size?, Gloria's and Footpatrol. We eventually expanded to take on work with Nike Europe and EA Sports, helping us grow while building on our established expertise.
Key Projects (2000-2025)
Zarjaz! 2000AD Exhibition (2005)
I loved reading 2000AD, especially Rogue Trooper, and it was great to take part in a 'cult' comic homage. Also working with Wai to create super complex freehand files, which were printed out and dropped into the middle of the art gallery as giveaways for anyone brave enough to interact with the ‘art’.
Air Max 95 Wet Paint (2005)
For the 10th anniversary of the AM95, we partnered with Dave White, one of the pioneers of painting images of sneakers onto canvas. His unique style would soon take him onto the cover of design publication Creative Review.For the launch of the 'Wet Paint' pack, we recreated Dave's studio environment inside the Carnaby store, creating an immersive experience complete with paint-splattered floor and easel – which even saw action on the night.
"I painted the elusive Neon Stab (which was to be released later) from start to finish that night," Dave explains. "I don't do live work anymore so it was a big moment in history for me. I still get people saying they were there and that it was such a great night."
Run Dem Crew (2008)
This collaboration with Nike and Run Dem Crew founder Charlie Dark (now MBE) became one of the most pivotal projects in our history. Briefed by Acyde, we created an identity that led to a strong relationship with Charlie and supported the running collective over the years with graphics, communications and ideas.
Back then Run Dem Crew was a running community for creative heads who wanted to run with company. It was about leaving the sofa behind and hitting the road. Nothing crazy, just a group of friends getting together in the pursuit of long lost fitness.
We worked with Charlie and Nike to create a war room within Nike's Shoreditch headquarters at 1948. We used Charlie's running haikus as a basis for flyposter designs and briefed one of London's flyposting elite to give them a weathered look. Utilitarian packing crates doubled as seats and kit storage while the crew was out running. Printed whiteboards allowed routes to be plotted on the fly, and fluorescent unbranded stickers were used to mark the Run Dem Crew territory.
This project served as a gateway to countless other opportunities and relationships, connecting us with figures like Aram at Stride, and various Nike Running representatives during marathon trips with RDC. One particularly significant connection came when I met Drieke during a trip to Shanghai.
At the Shanghai marathon, we connected with Joseph Ng (of Harbour Runners fame), who later joined us as our head of production in London; during the Copenhagen marathon, I met Matthew Divita who later wired with me in our NY office; and Sami Janger also joined the team in London for a while (he's still introducing me to cool friends and clients as ‘his first boss’!). And finally Cory Wharton-Malcolm, after an ‘interesting’ chat at a bar we went on to collaborate on Track Mafia for many years.
Punkt. (2008 - Present)
We were introduced to Petter Neby in 2008, before Punkt. launched, by long-time collaborator John Tree. We were immediately drawn to the overall Punkt. concept with Jasper Morrison’s vision - reductive products that do exactly what you need and nothing else. Punkt. was fighting against the attention economy before the phrase existed and wanted people to engage mindfully with their beautifully-designed, simple products.We have worked with Punkt. for the last 15 years, developing the brand identity, tagline, ringtones, phone icons and various campaigns and activations. There is a lot within Punkt. that other brands could learn from - their attitude towards customers and employees is a joy to watch and the 'holy trinity' of company, product and brand is respected every time a new product is conceived.
This long-term relationship represents one of our most enduring client partnerships, spanning from 2008 to the present day.
NSW 080808 (2008)
The relaunch of Nike Sportswear represented the reimagining of classic sports apparel into streetwear for a new generation. We were brought in to create and deliver the UK launch campaign for retail. This coincided with the Beijing Olympics, which launched on 08/08/08, providing core design inspiration.
We developed and delivered the campaign across all elements – from initial consultancy on the concept "Designed for sport, remixed for life" through to artist collaborations, photography, bespoke installations and launch literature.
For the pinnacle execution, we designed and produced a statement neon window display at flagship store NikeTown and created a giant pixel monster installation with Carri Munden in Selfridges. Neon subsequently became one of the key materials used in Nike Sportswear displays across the UK and the campaign was hailed globally as a benchmark for Nike.
10 Years of Obsession (2010)
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Size? and Nike's partnership, we created the 10 Years of Obsession campaign, a creative celebration with so many touchpoints from curation to events management, retail and digital design.
The campaign culminated in an exclusive exhibition at Dover Street's Air Gallery featuring all 10 shoes, and a one-off piece of Dave White artwork that took 2 days to paint. The artwork was broken into 100 pieces (10x10) and given away on the night to attendees. Drinks, DJs and sneakerheads all made for a great night to celebrate Nike and Size? and their ongoing obsession.
Since working with Dave in 2005 we have worked on a number of projects together over the years and it's always a pleasure, especially helping him with his exhibitions like 'Americana'. He brings energy, sneaker knowledge and straight-up artistic talent. We can't help but wonder where those 100 pieces are now and whether we could bring them together again one day.
Air Max Day 2015
This project marked our expansion into China. Since meeting Drieke during RunHai (also shout to Matthew Jung) in Shanghai, she asked us to work with her and to meet the Nike team there, and entrepreneurs like Terry from Doe. We engaged with students to learn about their insights and researched retail culture first-hand. This initiated a long-term collaboration with Nike's team in Shanghai.A key moment was when our plan of building a large installation on the street outside of the Nike flagship store fell through, and we were scrambling for a new site (this also meant a complete redesign). We resolved this by asking the Design Shanghai event organisers to host our installation... for free. James said at the time “During a discussion with them at a tea house (I apparently picked the wrong tea from the exhaustively long menu: they said my choice of tea was 'unmanly'. I should have stuck to coffee)”. In any case, the charm offensive worked, and we secured the new site for our glowing, airbag-infused sneaker box, which gets referenced time and again."
Air Max Day 2016
Matt, Boyce, Joe and I travelled again to China, this time to Hong Kong to work with Nike with Simon Lee's China Brand Design Team. We worked across multiple aspects of Nike's largest ever international celebration of the iconic Air Max sneaker, developing concepts that would take sneaker lovers on a unique and immersive journey through the evolution of Air Max.Highlights included an experiential exhibition space in Hong Kong showcasing a Willy Wonka style glimpse into behind the scenes of Nike, and various retail campaign activities across Greater China.
In finding ways to create immersive storytelling, we hacked NIKEiD to allow live 3D projection mapping onto physical product. Theatrical shoe displays with moving parts took a playful approach in demonstrating the legacy of Air Max. We produced small detailed pieces too, including exclusive laces and lace dubraes giveaways for our retail campaign.
The Air Max Con exhibition was a huge success, gaining lots of press coverage with our rooftop design becoming an iconic moment of Air Max day across the world. Visitors included former Nike CEO Mark Parker and super influential Japanese designer Hiroshi Fujiwara.
Nike x Off-White (2017)
For the first collaboration between Nike and Off-White, Virgil Abloh wanted to launch his collection differently, encouraging a creative conversation between himself and the wearers of his designs. Working with multiple collaborators, we created a launch experience that provided unique creative sessions as a compulsory part of the sneaker-purchasing process. This approach was also designed to ensure that the sneakers got into the hands of people who genuinely wanted to share Virgil's creative vision and to deter resellers."You could certainly spot the odd disgruntled reseller sitting through the sessions, but most people really engaged with the opportunity to create alongside masters of art, design and fashion. One participant told me it was the first time they'd been creative since middle school. While I was super proud of the design of our installations and the experience, that feedback from the sessions told me we'd done something good," James recalls.
Beats x Harrods Tech Week Window (2018)
Bringing the beauty of sound to life for that year's Tech Week at Harrods, we created a retail window that brought to life the high-fidelity sound generated by Beats by Dre's signature headphones. The installation, built using cutting-edge production techniques, depicted ripples and waves emanating from the product, which sat at the display's centre - with accompanying text that conveyed its benefits.
StockX StockXchange (2019)
As a brand, StockX's kudos sits in its rich product offering, and its platform's ability to strip back and simplify the opportunity to trade. Our aim with StockXchange was to create a cultural event that would elevate the StockX conversation beyond the trading floor and embrace the culture that sit at its heart.We created the 'StockXchange' concept as a platform to facilitate genuine cultural exchange; an idea deeply ingrained with the spirit of local contributors - a celebration of ideas, talent and the most desirable and iconic products. In partnership with Sarah Andelman - former concept and fashion store Colette's Creative Director, and founder of 'Just an Idea' consultancy - we designed and curated a four day exhibition, a programme of events and activities with artists, designers, and creative partners.
We've worked with sneakers and sneakerheads since the early 2000s and have seen it evolve from a niche scene to a mainstream lifestyle choice. In recent years it is impossible to think about sneakers without also thinking about StockX. Working with passionate collaborators we managed to bring to life sneakers and the lifestyle that surrounds them with energy, culture, storytelling and heart.
Nike BETRUE (2019)
BETRUE has become a marker of pride, unity and community, an annual expression for Nike to celebrate Pride month and show its solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community. We were asked to conceive a campaign that was both iconic, celebratory and visually arresting.We needed to stand out and ensure the BETRUE message was heard loud and clear. With access to a group of highly inspirational and equally celebrated LGBTQIA+ athletes, we shared a message of progress and achievement, all seen through the lens of support and teamwork. We wanted to focus on the allies of athletes as much as the core athletes' own unique stories of challenge and achievement, recognising and communicating the need for allyship to achieve true progress, and inspiring the next generation to continue working together for true equality.
It was such a great opportunity to work with these inspirational athletes on such a meaningful campaign. Our team art directing and managing the shoots particularly enjoyed the road trip and getting to know the athletes and their stories.
The OG Magazine (2020 - Present)
I met Ché Morales through Bruno when I was living in NY. The Online Gallery (The OG) is a digital platform and print magazine that focuses on the intersection of all creative sectors, anchored by contemporary art, and filtered through the editorial lens of curators, artists and community organisers.
Since Issue 01, The OG has trusted us to design the magazine, staying true and respectful to the talented creatives featured within its pages. We particularly enjoy working within the theme of each issue, encapsulating the characteristics of each creative contributor and their work, orchestrating the pace and emotion of the magazine.
This partnership, beginning in 2020 during the pandemic and continuing through to the present, reflects our ability to adapt to new challenges and maintain creative excellence even during unprecedented global circumstances.
Google (2022-2023)
We were contacted by Google as they were looking to expand their roster of creative agencies and we were selected to support Vicki Spielmann and her creative team. Throughout 2022 we worked on a number of different projects, developing campaigns and evolving their stores in New York.
The launch of Google Pixel 7 and other products all happened at the same time in Fall ‘22, and we collaborated closely with their creative team to bring this campaign to life at retail.
Working directly with their creative team was a joy and we loved their collaborative attitude, passion for crafting great creative work and their ability to hop between strategy and detail whenever the job required it.
Disney (2023 - Present)
We have developed a relationship with Disney that sees us collaborating with them on creative strategy focussing on a variety of different brands in their portfolio.We are most often brought in to help them dimensionalise their brands for physical spaces, helping them show up in a progressive, culturally relevant way. Recent projects include developing retail vision and creative strategy for Toy Story, Marvel and National Geographic.
For National Geographic,, Disney wanted our help developing a retail visio. With over 100 years of history, deeply authentic content and a sprawling range of properties, this new challenge was very exciting for us. We sought to fuse meaningful retail ideas with National Geographic's rich content and social purpose to create a retail vision that celebrates everything they stand for and more.
Timberland (2022 - Present)
As Timberland approached its 50th birthday, they carried out a brand strategy refresh, led by VP Global Marketing and long-term friend and collaborator Drieke. We were briefed by Timberland to design the Physical-Digital Retail Journey for this campaign: Built For The Bold and were briefed to design Timberland's flagship store on Broadway, New York.We designed the entire store based on a flexible system that can be modified as the brand evolves over time, or for short-term campaigns or installations. Sustainability was at the heart of our thinking to respect Timberland's purpose - with deep consideration given to lighting, paint, mannequins, hangers, fixtures and everything in-between. Services were also an important part of our consideration, ensuring they are visible, desirable and given the space they need to give each customer a truly personal experience.
Our relationship with Timberland has been a truly enjoyable one so far. Working with a dynamic team who have a clear vision, a passion for quality and an openness to creativity is always a joy for us.
Office Expansion
2015: Amsterdam Office Opens
This marked our first major step into international expansion. Up until this moment we had primarily been focused on simply delivering great projects but we decided that we wanted to take things further. Learning more about incorporating international law and finance was not the most riveting topic but deepened my understanding of business massively.2016: New York Office Opens
In a bold move that demonstrated our commitment to global growth, I relocated with my family to open the New York studio, establishing our presence in one of the world's most competitive creative markets. After 53 days, I flew back to Antwerp for OFFF to do a talk called '53 Days in New York' a day-by-day account of setting up a studio, navigating US banks (not fun), attending meetings, learning NY handshakes and taking risks.2020: Restructure
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we faced perhaps our greatest challenge. Rather than trying to maintain the status quo, the team made a radical decision to reinvent the organisation. As Russell describes it: "The biggest gamble/not gamble I've ever been a part of. Throwing away all the rules we had ever created in order to build a new version of the organisation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Was it going to work? Not doing it definitely wasn't going to work so we jumped right in." (You should read his article Bookspiration - The Obstacle Is The Way which touches on this.)Our willingness to reimagine the company structure in response to a global crisis demonstrated the adaptability and resilience that had characterised Rosie Lee since its early days in a Hoxton flat.
Changing Industry Landscape
Our original mantra "An unorthodox blend of many disciplines and undisciplines" strongly reflected our belief of what makes great design. The combination of formal design expertise with offcentre thinking gave us a unique flavour that we hadn't seen from any other agencies.
The creative industry has transformed dramatically since 2000 from the evolution of digital photography to the rise of social media and now AI. When we started, digital was emerging but still secondary to print. Now, the experience is amplified or powered by digital experiences, interactions or just purely virtual and digital. These shifts required us to adapt our approach, tools, and team composition, but throughout these changes, our focus on storytelling has remained constant, even as the methods for telling those stories have evolved.
Looking back over more than two decades, I'm struck by how much has changed, yet how consistent our core principles have remained. I would say we started as a branding company and evolved into art direction and campaigns, retail, digital, pop-ups and spatial design. Now we're a brand experience company, the thing that's changed is how the term 'brand' has evolved to be a living, breathing theme beyond a logo to a universe of touchpoints with its audience.
We've gone from removing hair from presentation materials in a hairdresser's basement to designing global campaigns for some of the world's biggest brands. We've expanded from Haberdasher Street to Amsterdam and New York (and Frome). But fundamentally, we're still those original creative thinkers, focused on telling compelling stories through whatever medium best serves the narrative.
Over the next few weeks, we'll be telling more of our journey, with conversations featuring friends and collaborators who have helped and supported us through these crazy 25 years. Stay tuned for these stories that capture the true spirit of Rosie Lee, a creative force built on relationships, innovation and a touch of that old Unorthodox Blend.