JEAN-CHARLES LE LAY

Passionate about art drawing and plastic arts since I was very young, I awakened my artistic sense at the age of 9 at the École des Beaux-Arts in Quimper, continuing at the Lycée Technique Vauban-Kérichen in Brest in the Applied Arts section.

In 1991 and 1992, I won two consecutive prizes for excellence in Plastic Arts at the prestigious Concours Général*,

which earned me the honour of receiving the warm congratulations of the Rectors of the Académie and the Minister of State for Education and Culture, Mr Jack Lang.

 

*The Concours Général des Lycées et des Métiers is a prize for excellence that distinguishes the best students in France from general, technological and professional high schools. It recognises work that can serve as a reference for all classes.

I then had the privilege of joining the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d'Art de Paris -ENSAAMA Olivier de Serres.

 

In 1994, the ENSAAMA interior architecture workshop organised an exhibition entitled "Dessins de Rome" at the Centre Chaillot Galliéra, Avenue George V - 75008 Paris, for which my drawings were chosen to illustrate the poster announcing the opening, where they were also displayed.

In the same year, I won the competition for the scenography of the annual "Point Gamma" Gala of the Ecole Polytechnique de Paris-Palaiseau, which is the biggest national student event.

Thus, for the implementation of my project, whose theme was "Under the Sea", I was in charge of the realization, the choice and the direction of the team which helped me in this formidable challenge, involving my stay on the campus of X for a whole month.

 

In 1997, within the framework of the National Service Cooperation, I had the opportunity to be recruited at the end of my studies by the French Cultural Centre and the French Embassy in Cotonou, Benin, where I spent two fabulous, extremely enriching years as a computer graphics designer and communications manager.

I was able to actively participate in many cultural events, such as vernissages, the 3rd Book Fair in Benin, various concerts, plays and other live performances and to meet with artists of all origins and backgrounds, with whom I had the chance to work: Louis Chédid, Oscar Kidjo, Le Jeune Ballet de France, the Malian star Oumou Sangaré, the Senegalese rappers PBS, the painters Sokey Edorh, Papisco Koudzi, as well as the famous Beninese visual artist Romuald Hazoumé.

 

On my return to my native Brittany, trained in the field and supported by my friend and mentor, the Quimper interior architect Dominique LE BERRE, I founded my own architecture and space design agency in 2001, where I have worked for 18 exciting years as a company manager, interior architect, designer and project manager, completing more than 300 projects.

An expert in high-end residential architecture, a follower of raw materials and of the famous precept "function creates form" of the American precursor Louis Sullivan, I create and implement an architecture that proposes a simple, articulated volumetry enhanced by light. 

Appreciated for my pencil stroke, my attentive listening and my interactive approach, I propose unique, harmonious and innovative projects, which offer their occupants carefully designed, optimised and functional spaces, where the aesthetics of the place are revealed by the light and the attention paid to details.

As a precursor in wood architecture, I have participated since 2005 in the implementation and local development of numerous projects that have been honoured in the national press.

 

Sensitive to the tragic situation of homeless people, I decided to act by co-founding in 2017 the public interest association

"Une villa en urgence-Home311", whose purpose made the headlines in many media. 

This pioneering and innovative eco-solidarity project proposes emergency housing designed from the recycling of refrigerated truck bodies.

As Vice-President and active volunteer member, I participated in the communication of this project with various potential sponsors and created the original 1.0 website of "Une Villa en Urgence", which I also managed during the first year, before handing over to a new team.
 

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2023 sounds for me a new challenge linked to a deep need to return to my roots, to get back to the basics, to get back to the essential!

A necessary therapy through a new activity of artistic creation in order to reconnect with Mother Nature.

Fascinated by Nature and in particular the marine environment, it is naturally and simply that I focus my first artistic approach on the hidden beauty of "seaweed".

These numerous seaweeds torn off by the incessant flow of tides and storms are a visual wonder every day.

Their fragile beauty, the imagination that develops around the ephemeral patterns they form in spite of themselves and the nostalgia, the memories of iodine smells and moments spent on the beaches of my childhood in Brittany are a perfect subject.

 

"Revealing and sublimating what we no longer see

Welcome to my world.

Enjoy the visit.

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Are you interested in one or more prints?

Would you like to decorate your seaside home or simply your city interior with a marine touch?

Or simply offer an original gift?

Offer yourself an original work of art

Offer yourself an art photograph, a prestige print in very high definition in a limited and numbered series with a remarkable print quality on original supports such as aluminium or canvas or on gallery quality FineArt paper

 

Discover and order your marine art photographs, seaweed, shells, starfish, crabs, pine cones, leaves and all other sea life. 
Find a wide selection of beautiful, downloadable prints with unique designs, printable directly on your printer or on the "Prints on Demand" websites.

Let yourself be amazed by the poster sets of your most beautiful favourites. 

Dare to choose the very large prestige formats that will dazzle and magnificently dress up your walls.

 

Fast response and careful packaging adapted to the medium

Delivery possible in many countries

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It is possible to place a personalised order, on estimate, by contacting me directly by e-mail

jeancharleslelay@gmail.com

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Jean-Charles Le Lay