Manufacturer Nuno Erin says that the idea behind their Touch-Sensitive-Wall Panels—a modular, thermo-sensitive, adornment for those boring old walls—is “to bring a sensorial atmosphere to contemporary spaces and to encourage creative tactile expression.” Founded in 2006 by Nuno Gonçalves Ferreira and Erin Hayne, Nuno Erin “designs furniture and installations that promote interaction between people and objects and enhance the sensory experience.” The objective clearly exceeds the taciturn bodily pleasures of sitting and reclining.

Touch Wall Panels. Designed by Nuno Gonçalves Ferreira and Erin Hayne of Nuno Erin.

With backgrounds in sculpture and textiles, the pair is pre-occcupied with the liminal space between people and their environment, between the often amazing sensory explosion of touch and the reciprocal—and sometimes equally intriguing—way the object in question reacts: the plush give of a leather recliner, for instance; or the ergonomic accommodations of of an armchair upholstered in rigid foam.

Nuno Erin’s Touch Panels take this dynamic to a whole new level. Constructed of wood, foam, and thermo-sensitive fabric (and available in 18″ and 24″ models), these modular decorative elements resemble a puffed-up Mondrian pastiche. The aesthetic is sort of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure meets Andy Warhol. But the merest touch of these poofy panels—assuming, that is, that the toucher is of the warm-blooded variety—and the square lights up like a psychedelic x-ray, leaving finger-prints, arm-prints, leg-prints (or prints of other, less-mentionable appendages) in dazzling iridescent relief. The panels react not only to bodily heat, but also register the change in ambient temp., which means that an artfully targeted lighting scheme will provoke a similar brilliant metamorphosis. And what’s more, these configuarations are infinite and endlessly evolving—just remove said heat source and the Touch Wall Panel reverts to its blank black canvas. Sort of like Lite-Brite for grown-ups, or an Etch-a-Sketch on acid, Nuno Erin’s Touch Panels will transform your blank walls into the interactive hot spot of any gathering.