Visitors are encouraged to touch, swing, stack and reconfigure colourful plush furniture staged throughout this installation, which Fort Makers designed to harness the "power of play" in its New York gallery.

To create the immersive Puffy exhibit, Fort Makers founders and artists painted and scrawled vibrant colours and designs across sheets of canvas.

This was then used to upholster dozens of cushions and other furnishings, and also draped over the walls and floor.

"The power of play has always been at the forefront of Fort Makers' design philosophy," said Fort Makers creative director Nana Spears​.

​"Puffy is an embodiment of our mission to design objects and environments that stimulate the viewer and encourage a creative exchange of ideas," Spears added.

"We hope the immersive atmosphere will serve as both a reprieve and stimulus, and as a reminder that a spark of inspiration can be just as soothing as a puffy pillow."

Objects installed in the boldly decorated space include round ottomans, cushioned cubes, triangular volumes and an array of pillows.

Markings on the canvas include abstract shapes, swirls and lines. They come in eight tones of colours that were mixed specially for the installation: lavender, cobalt, chartreuse, poppy red, maroon, mint, apricot and pumpkin orange.

"There was a lot of controlled chaos, so to speak, in the composition," Fort Makers founder and artist Naomi S Clark told Dezeen."There is a lot of planning that goes into a painting this size."

"The objects and shapes come from a vocabulary or language of shapes that all of Fort Makers has adopted in many objects and compositions over the years," Clark continued. "The shapes tell a story and have a personality."

Despite its seemingly random appearance, Clark visualised the colour palette and strokes beforehand, like she would for a painting.

"As a painter I know my style and my brush strokes live in my hand," said Clark. "I know how it is going to come out but it is not sketched. I like to stay one or two steps ahead in my head of the action of my brush."

Puffy is on show at Fort Makers 38 Orchard Street exhibition space from 20 January to 11 March 2020.

Spears and Clark founded the New York design studio and artist collective Fort Makers with Noah James Spencer in 2008. It opened its gallery in 2019.

Other colourful installations include an exhibition by Camille Walala which transformed a series of colourful shipping containers into an immersive house for toy brand Lego and a series of musical seesaws activated by users.