During Amsterdam Fashion Week 2026, SistersJanssen transformed Hotel De L’Europe into a world of colour, curiosity and creativity with the COLOR KIDS Playground, an immersive installation created in collaboration with Decor Amsterdam. Inspired by the uninhibited way children create, the experience invited visitors to colour outside the lines and become part of the artwork themselves. Following the presentation, we caught up with sisters Tisja and Ziarah Janssen to talk about the story behind their creative practice, the inspiration behind the COLOR KIDS Playground and why play continues to shape everything they make.
For readers discovering SistersJanssen for the first time, how would you describe the brand and its creative vision?
SistersJanssen is an art duo founded by sisters Tisja and Ziarah Janssen. Together, we create from a shared curiosity and a love of storytelling. Inspired by our mixed heritage, our family and the way we grew up, we strive for a more colourful future in every sense of the word.
Much of our work is shaped by the influence of our mother and lifelong role model, artist Helen Martina. Our stories come to life through paintings, collages, installations and creative concepts. Each medium gives us another way to tell a story, explore who we are and invite others into our world.
What inspired the concept behind the COLOR KIDS Playground?
As SistersJanssen, we still create the way we did as children. We never really start with a plan. We start with scissors, crayons, paper, paint and whatever else we can get our hands on. We cut things out, colour outside the lines, make a mess and follow our curiosity. It has never been about making something perfect; it’s about making something that feels like us. That way of creating hasn’t changed, and the COLOR KIDS Playground was our invitation for people to experience that feeling again. As children, everything could become a canvas: a notebook, a cardboard box, the pavement outside or, sometimes, your parents’ sofa. When you felt like creating, you simply did. Your hands moved before you had time to overthink it. That’s the feeling we wanted to bring back.
Inside the playground, visitors found oversized colouring books inspired by our artworks, a sofa featuring our signature COLOR KIDS print, and plenty of chalk, colour and space to leave their mark. There were no rules about staying inside the lines. Add something, cover something, draw over it or leave a message. Every visitor became part of the artwork. For us, creativity begins the moment you stop worrying about getting it right. The COLOR KIDS Playground celebrated play, imagination and self-expression. It’s a place where colour matters more than perfection, and everyone is invited to create like they once did.
How did the collaboration with Decor Amsterdam come together?
For a long time, we’d dreamed of designing a piece of furniture together. I used to walk past Decor Amsterdam in the evenings, looking through their colourful windows and imagining what it would be like to turn one of our artworks into something people could actually sit on. We’ve always loved colour, print and creating worlds that people can step into, so the idea of designing furniture never really left us. When we shared that dream with Danie, she introduced us to Decor Amsterdam.
From our very first meeting, it felt like we spoke the same language. We all believed furniture could be more than something functional—it could become part of the artwork itself. Together, we transformed our COLOR KIDS artwork into a custom print and, with Decor Amsterdam’s guidance, found the right sofa, rug and production partners to bring the installation to life. It felt like a natural collaboration, built on a shared love of colour and creativity.
What did you hope visitors would experience when they stepped into the COLOR KIDS Playground?
The moment you stepped into the COLOR KIDS Playground, you stepped into our world. It’s a space inspired by the way we create: playful, colourful and driven by curiosity rather than perfection. We hoped it would be somewhere people could let go of expectations, stop overthinking for a moment and simply enjoy making something.
At the heart of the installation was a custom-designed sofa wrapped in our signature COLOR KIDS print, creating the feeling of walking into one of our artworks rather than simply looking at it. Surrounding the space were oversized colouring books inspired by our paintings, along with crayons waiting to be picked up. Visitors were invited to sit down, draw, colour, doodle, write or simply add whatever felt right. There were no rules about staying inside the lines and no pressure to make something beautiful. Every drawing and scribble became part of a collective artwork that grew throughout the event. More than anything, we hoped people left with the feeling they had as children, when creating was simply about having fun.
Looking back on the COLOR KIDS Playground, how does the installation reflect where SistersJanssen is heading next?
Lately, we’ve found ourselves asking the same question over and over again: why do we create? The older we get, the clearer the answer becomes. We create because it brings us joy. It gives us a sense of calm, freedom and play. In a world where so much revolves around performance, deadlines and constantly moving on to the next thing, creating is the one place where we feel completely present.
Some of our favourite moments aren’t the exhibitions or the finished artworks. They’re the moments at the end of a day in the studio, looking at each other with paint on our hands and big smiles on our faces. Or when one of us shares an idea and, little by little, it grows into something real. That feeling hasn’t changed in the five years since we sat around our parents’ kitchen table talking about what it would be like to create something together. We didn’t start SistersJanssen because we had a business plan. We started because making things together was simply the most fun thing we could imagine, and we never want to lose that feeling. The COLOR KIDS Playground is a reflection of exactly that. It’s more than an installation; it’s a reminder of why we create in the first place. As SistersJanssen continues to grow, we hope every project carries that same sense of curiosity, play and joy.
