When Piers Carpenter was 14 he took on a Saturday job at his local jewellers.

From working behind the counter and taking orders, he soon became bedazzled with the world of fine gems and metals and persuaded staff to teach him repair and design skills.

Twelve years on, Piers is still working at Kaizen Antiques and Jewellers in Rochester High Street - and he's just struck gold by winning a prestigious competition on national television.

Piers, 26, has beaten stiff competition to win the BBC2 All That Glitters crown after his crafted pieces of jewellery impressed the judges.

Although boyhood pictures of Piers show him wearing necklaces and rings from a young age, he fell into the jewellery business by accident.

While at Rochester Math School he was allocated work experience at a children's nursery - and hated it.

His mother called somebody she knew at Kaizen and asked him if would take her son on for the temporary placement.

At the time there was no work going, but his polite nature impressed staff and he was taken on to work Saturdays.

After leaving school with AS levels in art and design and technology, he decided he did not want to go on to university.

He said : "I did the first year in sixth form and didn't enjoy that. I was never going to go into a high-flying career and be a doctor or lawyer. And I didn't want £9,000 of student debt.

"Most people don't know what they want to at that age, but I was lucky. I had already discovered what I wanted to do."

Piers was persuaded to enter the contest by his wife and childhood sweetheart Paige.

'We watched the first episodes of All That Glitters last year and were obsessed'

The couple met while Paige was at Rochester Grammar School when they were teenagers and, after a 10-year courtship, tied the knot last year.

Paige, who works as a manager at TPS Global Logistics in Aylesford, said: "We watched the first episodes of All That Glitters last year and were obsessed. We we were cheering on our feet at the end."

When producers invited people to take part in the next series, Paige was quick to get a reluctant Piers to fill out the online form at their Rochester home.

After a Zoom interview and practice session, Piers was among the eight contestants to be selected.

Paige said: "He was not too keen because he has been more used to doing repairs than design, but I knew he had the skill-set."

Piers said: "We were going through family photographs the other day and I was a baby, maybe three or four,and I always had some sort of chain or necklace on. It started before I actually knew it. I had a piece of jewellery made when I was 12 or 13, in my local jewellers and I suppose that sparked my interest."

Piers holds himself to high standards and admits that he would rather melt a piece and present nothing than show something that he is not 100% happy with.

Among the challenges set by the expert judges Dinny Hall and Shaun Leane was to create a rumba-inspired necklace for Shirley Ballas, head judge on Strictly Come Dancing.

Shirley appeared on the final of the six-part show last week and wore the piece on Strictly.

He said: "Being quite small, I personally prefer something chunky. But of I'm making something for women, including my wife I will go for something more elegant. "

Talking about his appearance on the BBC2 programme , he said:"I enjoyed it all really. It was quite stressful but I liked being pushed out of my comfort zone. At the time, the weirder challenges were really daunting but it was quite satisfying and freeing to make something completely different."

He added:"This is a trade where no one knows all of it, every day you learn something new. Even little things like the way you hold a piece of jewellery when you’re working on it, the way you hold a tool you’re using, the tiniest little thing can change how well you do it.

"If you have the attitude that you can learn something new every day then you can, but when you think you know everything, you stop learning."

Since scooping the top prize, Piers has been inundated with congratulatory emails and offers.

But he is adamant that he will remain at Kaizen where he was taught his trade as a teenager.

'This is a trade where no one knows all of it, every day you learn something new'

He said : "I am overwhelmed and have got so much work. But I feel I should be loyal to those who have got me where I am today."

The show was screened in a specially-built workshop in Birmingham's historic jewellery quarter.

Judge Dinny Hall has created pieces for celebrity A-listers throughout the world, including David Bowie, Liz Hurley and Sienna Miller.

Shaun Leane trained in Hatton Garden and worked in a long-standing collaboration with the late Alexander McQueen

It was hosted by Katherine Ryan, a Canadian comedian, writer and actor.