In living colour: Arts entrepreneur Andrew Moir has brought a little bit of Africa to west London

(Natalie Pecht)

The painting behind me is where this room started. Everything else has been bought around it. It's called African Yellow and it's my favourite piece here – the colour is brilliantly intense. My wife Julia and I work with hundreds of artists, so we have a wide-ranging collection of pieces, but it all comes together in this space.

We found this top-floor apartment in Notting Hill nine years ago and loved it as it was, but last year we changed it dramatically. It used to be very walled in, with low ceilings, so we have opened it up completely – it was the best thing we did. I feel slightly guilty taking all the credit for the way it looks now, as Julia sourced a lot of the things, including our rather mad collection of glassware. She has developed a good eye for it, and we raid charity shops for neglected bits of Whitefriars or Murano.

There are a lot of retro shapes and materials in this room, such as the chair I'm sitting on. I'm a big fan of 1970s design – it captures some of the magic of that period. The overall look is contemporary, though, as we mix in modern pieces such as the Tom Dixon star on the cabinet.

Our other home is a 17th-century house in Sussex – very olde worlde, a complete contrast to here. The big difference is the light, which is the best thing about this place. It's not that it makes it a particularly relaxing place to live; the opposite, in fact – this space has a really uplifting energy about it, so when I'm in London for work I really feel like the hardworking businessman about town. It's invigorating, although it can make you feel slightly schizophrenic when you revert to dog-walking mode in Sussex at weekends.

Andrew Moir is the managing director of the arts audience-development agency London Calling (www.londoncalling.com)

Get the look: Retro brights

1. "Flowerpot" light, by Verner Panton, £154, from www.panik-design.com

2. "Carroll" glass vase, £15, www.habitat.net

3. "Cork" easy chair, by Orla Kiely, £1,095, from www.heals.co.uk