organizing
Kish. Keep it simple, honey.
I’ve been organizing practically since the day I was born. My mother claimed that when I was five years old I asked her if I could look after my own bedroom, so she showed me how to make hospital corners on my bed. The little girl with the tidy room became an art and film student, photographer, graphic designer (organizing in 2-D!), and professional organizer.
Over the years, in my various careers, I’ve always tried to leave my workplaces better than I found them, from transforming a company storage room into a clean and comfortable lunch space to clearing out thirty years of detritus in a 3500 sq. ft. photo studio.
In 2018 I turned my talent for organizing into a professional enterprise and joined Professional Organizers in Canada (POC). I took classes and an exam with POC and am now designated a Trained Professional Organizer. As a subcontractor for other organizers I gained even more valuable experience in packing for moves, downsizing, estate clearing, and hoard clearing.
Now I’ve set up on my own, in London, Ontario, under “KISH.” The original Hungarian spelling of my last name is “Kiss,” an acronym for “Keep it simple, stupid” but I’m glad that my grandfather changed his name to “Kish” after he came to Canada. I prefer “Keep it simple, honey.” Kish by name, Kish by nature, and born to organize!
graphic design
Since 2004 I’ve worked in publishing, first as an award-winning in-house designer, then art director, and now freelance designer. I have skill and experience in layout; typography; art direction; illustration; image research, editing and manipulation; and traditional and digital photography.
My body of work comprises trade and scholarly illustrated books on history, science, business and cooking; literary, mass market and young adult fiction; magazines, programmes, and brochures; and packaging and promotional material.
My designs have received praise in book reviews, and appreciative editors and authors comment: “gorgeous,” “brilliant,” “wonderful,” “authoritative,” “beautiful,” “masterful,” “inspired,” “lovely,” “elegant,” “impressive,” “superb,” “I have added Sharon Kish to my list of heroes.”
photography
Before I became a graphic designer, I was a Toronto-based photographer with a clientele of architects, landscape architects, and interior and lighting designers. My photographs have appeared in Canadian House and Home, Style at Home, Azure, Your Source, Gardening Life, Chatelaine Gardens, Landscape Architecture, Landscape Trades, The Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, and books for Macmillan Canada, Prentice Hall Canada, and President’s Choice. Though I don’t shoot professionally anymore, I still enjoy taking photos when I travel.
All text, photographs, art, and design by Sharon Kish unless otherwise noted.
