Jean-Charles Le Lay

With a passion for drawing, I began my artistic career at the age of 9 at the École des Beaux-Arts in Quimper and continued my apprenticeship at the lycée d'arts appliqués, winning two consecutive prizes for excellence in the plastic arts at the prestigious Concours Général.

I then enrolled at the renowned École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d'Art de Paris
Olivier de Serres, before flying to Benin for two fabulous creative years at the French Cultural Centre in Cotonou.

Back in Brittany, I set up my own architecture and design studio in the heart of the Pays Bigouden and ran it for nearly 20 years, with a visceral, latent desire to get back to the plastic arts and the art world.

And it was thanks to my daily therapeutic walks along the beach, where I rediscovered the treasures Mother Nature has to offer, that I felt the urge to bear witness to their incredible beauty.

It was then that photography took over from my pencil to express my artistic sensibility.

Higher diploma in applied arts from the Ecole National d'Art Appliqué et des Métiers d'Art in Paris - Olivier de Serres