Jean Auray

5 Oct 1957, France

  • There is no actual proof of any cause and effect relationship between this event and my arrival on Earth, nor my being known from my youngest years as a dreamer… “Jean the Moon-Boy” they used to say !
    Or there perhaps lies the reason why, in spite of all I’ve accomplished since my birth, nothing has turned out quite as I imagined…
    I come from a farming background, close to nature, far from music. And yet at the age of fourteen, I had made my first musical instrument. I even had my own workshop though I never imagined that this might become my future career !

    Photo Biography 001I was trained by a craftsman’s guild, the “Compagnon du Devoir et du Tour de France” and they gave me a respect for tools, a deep sense of the relationship between materials and craftsmanship and the quest for creativity firmly based on tradition. I was going to become a cabinet maker…

    But life is full of unexpected twists and turns and at twenty one, I went back to being an apprentice but this time in the world of music and instrument making.
    I have been successful in this craft largely thanks to my solid technical background but I discovered the full potential of my role as a luthier through communicating with musicians who became both clients and friends. If I had been told that my work would evolve to allow craft to be surpassed by the dynamics of the people I would meet, I would have laughed. But it is those dynamics which have enabled me to reach out towards ever-further possibilities…

    source: personal website
  • Il n’a pas encore été prouvé qu’il y ait une relation de cause à effet entre cet événement et ma venue sur terre, ni mon esprit rêveur, remarqué dès mon plus jeune âge… Jean de la Lune !
    C’est peut-être pour ça que de tout ce que j’ai accompli depuis ma naissance, rien n’a fonctionné comme je le prévoyais…
    Je viens d’un milieu paysan, proche de la nature mais loin de la musique. Et pourtant, à quatorze ans j’ai construit mon premier instrument. J’avais déjà mon atelier, mais je n’imaginais pas que l’on puisse en faire un métier !

    Photo Biographie 001Les Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France m’ont enseigné le respect de l’outil, le sens profond de la relation à la matière, la recherche d’une créativité ancrée dans la tradition. Je me destinais à l’ébénisterie…

    Mais la vie est pleine de virages inattendus et à vingt et un ans, j’ai repris les bancs de l’apprentissage, mais enfin dans un monde de musique et d’instruments !
    J’ai évolué dans ce métier grâce à une solide base technique mais j’ai pris la pleine dimension de ma place de luthier en libre contact avec les musiciens, mes clients et amis. Si on m’avait dit que mon travail s’organiserait autour d’une évolution, où la technique serait dépassée par la dynamique des gens que je rencontrerais, je me serais esclaffé de

    source: personal website

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makes instruments vln, vla, vlc, cb
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