There are four important things I look for before buying a piece: originality, condition, romance and crucially, good design. I have been dealing in antiques full time for 30 years and have been passionate about the subject since childhood. When I was about six I felt that by holding an object dug up in the garden, say a fragment of a clay pipe, I could imagine what had happened to it from its fabrication to the present. The passage of time has always held a great fascination for me as within each piece there lies the possibility of time travel. Over the last few years I have been working on a great variety of projects balancing furniture, paintings and objects to create harmonious spaces.