Jesse’s first camera arrived on his sixth birthday as a present from his father, celebrated photographer Simpson Kalisher. A darkroom soon followed. Yet despite his enthusiasm for the medium, when it came time to consider a career, Jesse took his father’s advice and focused on anything but photography.

In the mid 1990’s, Jesse Kalisher made a life changing decision to step away from a successful career in advertising and travel the world with his camera, meeting his wife, Helen Kalisher, while traveling through the forests of Guatemala. Through this adventure he further developed his passion for fine art photography.

In 1999, Helen and Jesse officially began their partnership, creating The Jesse Kalisher Gallery. After setting up a makeshift office in their future daughter’s bedroom in 2005, Jesse and Helen hired their first employee, Kalisher COO Sarah Elder. From there, the company moved to our first non-bedroom offices at 209 E Main St, in Carrboro. Current President David Winton joined Jesse, Helen and Sarah soon after as employee #2 in 2008.

Our roots come from Jesse’s art and his passion, and his belief above all that, "Everyone deserves great art."

Helen founded the company along with Jesse Kalisher in 1999. She has a degree in Graphic Design & Illustration from the Chelsea College of Arts, London. Earlier in her career, she designed work for Apple Computer and Dorling Kindersley before starting her own design company. She oversaw all post-production of Jesse’s photography prints, developed the Kalisher brand style and founded the in-house Art department within Kalisher.