AN INTERVIEW WITH NIGEL WORBOYS

I have been interested in antiques and 'old things' since the age of 4 or 5. I used to drag my parents around junk shops and as a teenager I would visit jumble sales, restore things and sell them in the local paper. I used to make a tidy allowance! After leaving college I started dealing and had a stall on Portobello Road. In a quest for more knowledge I spent a period working at Bonhams. Then after some time in the furniture trade I decided to buy another shop and started up again - antiques dealing never leaves your blood!

As with any business you look for your unique selling proposition. The antiques trade has numerous unique features; some are advantageous and some are a disadvantage to us. In our business there is a limited amount of stock that needs to be sourced and each item is different, so it enables us to offer something different with each sale and, for the most part, avoid our competitors having the same item. We also need to have expert knowledge to be able to find the hidden gems and of course we are experts at finding these in a very green trade - everything we sell is recycled. Our items are not just recycled once either. Many generations have used the items that we sell. As a trade we need to shout this from the rooftops and help stimulate our business.

To be at the stage that if you stopped anyone in the street and asked them to tell you something about the antiques trade they would say it's a green business. We have started to raise awareness with a new logo and have many more ideas, including promotion of the trade and ways in which dealers can become more sustainable in their business activities.

Yes all sorts of people have been very supportive of the campaign and I have also had a lot of interest from overseas as well.

At present, I don't think that we are even on their radar. I believe that if the public at large realised our green credentials they wouldn't have a problem with giving us a small tax break. We need to be seen as a business that supplies all sectors not just the rich.

At the end of the day it is just about communication and making people aware that 'Antiques Are Green'. It's not going to happen overnight but if dealers and people who love the antiques trade supports the campaign and pushes the message home it should start to change perceptions.

I think it is a very helpful step in the right direction. If we can get a dialogue with the appropriate governmental department I think we should lobby for tax breaks in recognition of our green contribution. One example would be to lower the VAT margin rate to 5%, in line with import duty on antiques.

Firstly, we still need to decide on a logo and get people signing up to the campaign. We are asking people to vote for which logo they prefer and they can do this by going to the Antiques Are Green Survey Once the votes have been counted and the logo decided we will contact everyone for stage two of the campaign. Please keep on voting and the BBC homes and Antiques Magazine will be including it in their consumer vote this month. If we all concentrate on making this campaign a success we will start to create a worldwide awareness of the fact that 'Antiques Are Green'. To cast your vote for the Antiques Are Green logo go to the Survey page and pick which logo you prefer before leaving your email address.