Nowadays York-based jeweller Paul Allinson takes pride in crafting one-off pieces by hand. It’s a welcome change from the deafening steel mills of Teesside, as he tells MAXINE GORDON.

IN HIS attic workshop at the top of a higgedly piggedly building in the heart of York, Paul Allinson puts his creative talents to work.

Here, he sculpts the finest details on to a special ‘clay’, ready to be turned into an array of objects.

Works in progress include a ring, resembling a band of ivy, with each leaf intricately carved in meticulous detail by hand.

On another workbench sits a clay scorpion, an ornament being made at the request of a grandmother for her grandson whose star sign is Scorpio.

Paul is all alone in the workshop, his only company being some CDs on the boogie box.

It’s a world away from the deafening oppression of the steel mills of Teesside, where he worked for more than 20 years before taking redundancy and becoming a jeweller.

“I hated it,” says Paul in a gentle voice that reveals his roots – a childhood just outside Middlesbrough.

Straight from school, he joined British Steel and worked at Lackenby, straightening beams. “It was the noisiest place in the world – 143 decibels. The noise of metal against metal is not the best place to be.”

The contrast between then and now couldn’t be more marked. Paul and his partner, Lee, have opened, Nosallis Designs, in Colliergate, where they showcase their work, meet clients to discuss commissions, and complete pieces in the attic studio.

The pair previously ran a jewellery shop in Whitby.

Paul is self-taught and earned his craft-making stripes by creating life-like dragon masks. “I met Lee and showed her the dragon heads and she said I should make jewellery,” said Paul.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Paul has won accolades from some of Britain’s leading jewellers and displayed his work at leading jewellery shows.

In a digital age when so much design is now computer generated, Paul takes pride in making all his pieces by hand. He will either sketch an idea or make a 3D model.

He says: “I don’t use computers; to me, those pieces aren’t hand made, they are hand assembled. I think things made by computer are soulless.”

Paul sculpts his pieces using “super sculpey”, a type of clay that behaves like Plasticine but bakes hard in the oven. Paul sends the finished piece off for a mould to be made and he casts his jewellery from that. Clients can rest assured that any piece he makes for them will be a true one-off.

“They get the piece of jewellery and the mould as well,” says Paul.

Paul’s statement pieces have a similar style. “I can make anything, but I do like curves and movement. I like to do bigger pieces and really complicated things. These need a certain type of person to wear them; you can’t be a wallflower.”

Paul has had some odd requests over the years, from making a bat pendant to fit around a wisdom tooth to tiny baby feet to commemorate a woman’s miscarriage. He has made some unusual charms too, including the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge and a tiny Whitby Abbey.

For couples looking for engagement rings, he offers a service where he will design the engagement and wedding rings together.

This, he says, is best practice.

“It’s good to make the rings as a set so they go together and sit together.”

A point to remember for anyone thinking of popping the question any time soon.