French printmaker, painter, and tapestry artist Simon Chaye was born in 1930. His early career was spent in Paris where he worked as an assistant to painter Jean Picard le Doux in 1953 and participated in a major exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts in 1958. In the late 1950s he began collaborating with textile manufacturers in Aubusson. In 1960, the building where his studio was held was was slated for demolition, and he moved to Honfleur where he was commissioned by philanthropist Doll Schlumberger, wife of Marcel Schlumberger, to create three tapestries for her estate in La Barberie. This proved to be a fortuitous connection as he began receiving commissions from private collectors and public institutions throughout France and beyond.

By the 1960s he was exhibiting his tapestries and prints throughout Europe and North America, including the French Institute in Athens (1965), and at an international exhibition in Montreal, Canada (1967). He began a working relationship with l'Atelier Pierre Legoueix in connection with Tapisserie d'Aubusson, which was later operated by Camille Legoueix, and would continue to work with the weaving workshop through the 1990s. In 1970 Chaye opened a gallery in the arcades of the Palais-Royale in Paris, and in 1983 he bought and restored the Roncheville manor house, where he relocated his gallery. There, he featured works by leading modern artists, including Jean Effel, Leonetto Capiello, Marc Pevsner, Rayond Savignac, Pablo Picasso, and more.

Chaye continues to live and work in Honfleur, France.