I was born in Paris but live in south of France on the board of Provence near the French Riviera between Monte Carlo and Italia.  In my country the Alps mountains have feet in the blue Mediterranean.  I have a choice of fly fishing salt water, canyons, high mountain lakes, or rivers and streams.  That is fantastic enough.

I create fly collections for fresh and salt water.  In fact, I design new flies for new way of fly fishing canyons, liguran sea, and Alps lakes.  

My parents are artists.  I am a scientist and try to conciliate biology and art through fly tying.  As an environmentalist in one of the U.N. laboratories, I studied the impact of pollution and contamination in marine ecosystems.  I know well the different components of marine food chains and I love to imitate cephalopods, krill, crustaceans, fish, jelly fish, or marine reptiles.

Fly tying for fishing is not enough for me.  I prefer to tie for art.  It is part of my culture in that I live in the most artistic area of France.  Chagall, Matisse, Picasso, Ernst, Tobiasse, Goetz, all loved Provence.  With no comparison to these genies, art life and culture indirectly influence the pleasure I get through modestly tying only what is in my mind.  I have no commercial pressure.  I am free and could tie bat, jellyfish, or a beetle.  I just do what I want, when I want, where I want, and this is the best way to tie flies.

Note by Ed:  Jean-Louis has exceptional tying talent and I'm sure you will agree as you browse though his flies.  He is also an accomplished writer of 120 magazine articles but I have read only 5.  One is in English, "Fly Fishing the French Riviera" in the Sep/Oct 1998 issue of Fly Fishing in Salt Waters.  A photograph of his realistic shrimp imitation is on the cover.  He also published articles in the Italian journal: Fly Line - Ecosistemi Fluviali (fluvial ecosystems in English).  His excellent photography displays some of the best tying talent I've ever seen.  The articles are: "Composizioni Esposizioni" (compositions exposures) in the May/June 1998 issue;  "Streamers Forever" in the July/August issue; "May Fly" in the September/October 1999 issue, and "Le trote degli alti Gardons delle Cevennes"  (The High Trouts of the Gardons of Cevennes) in the July/August 2001 issue.  When I have time I intend to write a synopsis of each article to share with visitors of this site.

Pictured above is Jean-Louis' son, Guillaume, fly fishing over a dam in France.

Pictured below is his wasp displayed in a very comfortable position.