An interview with Shiran Gort – Four Leaves
This month we sit down with Shiran Gort, the founder of Four Leaves. An inspiring story in which we go all the way back to the roots. Shiran was born in 1981 in an orphanage in Sri Lanka. Shortly after he was adopted by a Dutch mother and a Indonesian/Dutch father. He spends his childhood in a small village in the east of the Netherlands in which he finds his way in the midst of three cultures: Dutch, Indonesian and Sri Lankan. Meanwhile, Shiran is a father himself of a daughter and a son and they live in Amsterdam. In 2018 Shiran decided to give up his job in the fashion industry and through this, create the space needed to develop his own concept: Four Leaves.
Four Leaves has become the journey back to his roots, whilst also being an investigation to the importance of sleep, good hygiene and true care for daily routines. Routines that we consider ordinary but have a considerable positive influence on the quality of our lives. For each product that he sells, he donates a sleeping bag or towel to an orphanage in Sri Lanka. The social aspect created through giving back to the orphanages, feels like a very logical choice to make for Shiran.
We sit down with Shiran to discuss his roots, his work life balance and his aspirations for the future.
It is almost Father’s day. What does this day mean to you and how do you celebrate it?
Father’s day is a day for me with two faces. First of all I consider the joy our children, but I also think about my own father and sister who are no longer with, as well as Monique’s dad. Our children do not have a grandfather, which is why we do celebrate it, but privately, just the four of us.
Your brand produces bed linnens, among other things, so maybe you do not really like to be woken up ;-). But what can we wake you in the middle of the night for?
Haha, luckily I fall asleep rather easily… A nightly cuddle from James or Celine, when they are awake due to a bad dream, is something I secretly kind of love and is always welcome!
You have your own company and a family. How do you manage to organise it all, or do you not actually? ;-)
Well, that is definitely the biggest challenge. I feel like I am more around on weekdays to spend time with my children now, then compared to when I was working for a boss. The flexibility of being an entrepreneur created this possibility. On the other hand, this does not really work for the time I get to spend with my wife… when I am not babysitting the kids, all time is needed for Four Leaves. Monique, my wife, helps with “babysitting” on these days and I always try to keep the Sundays completely free. Finding a good balance is a tricky task!
What are your personal favorite family activities? Do you take elements from your own childhood with you in this?
Experiencing adventures together is my favourite, and then I really mean with just the four of us! Travelling to a place we have never been before and exploring this together. This can be close to home or far away, city or nature, and can differ from spending an hour there or a few weeks. I truly enjoy being there in the moment itself, but lately I realised that I become quite happy again when I look back at the pictures we took.
I think my parents used to do the same in the past, but mostly during the long trips we made in the summer holidays. What we used to do back then in a period of six weeks, we do now with our own children but spread out over the year.
You are originally from Sri Lanka. In what way has this influenced your interior and your sense of style and design?
Coincidentally, we just added a book by the Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa into our collection. I became acquainted with Bawa’s work a couple of years ago through close friends. His style, Tropical Modernism, is the inspiration for the look and feel of Four Leaves. Personally his architecture inspires me as well, but to be honest the minimalistic interior is not always realistic in a house with children. Also, the connection he has to nature is not always the most practical in such a non-tropic country as the Netherlands ;-). We give the inspiration we got from him our own twist, we value plants, lots of green and sunlight.
What does me-time mean to you and how do you capture moments of rest?
Me-time is a really private moment for me, which can be short or long. A peaceful moment in my daily shower is where I really get to rest and compartmentalize my thoughts and ideas. Taking a shower together is not really my thing. Before Covid my most import me-time moment was Sunday morning. I used to visit a small gym close by, where I would just come to stretch my muscles and enjoy the sauna. The visit to the sauna was a sanity-check for me, no need to talk and just sit and think about nothing for 20 minutes. When I could not manage to have a peaceful 20 minute moment I knew all of my activities had overflowed and I needed to re-evaluate my plans for the next week. I truly believe these sessions prevented me at least once in my life from getting a burn-out. Yoga also helps of course, which is why I really want to pick that up again. Now the Yoga schools are back open this is possible, doing yoga at home did not really work for me.
What is a moment you will cherish forever? (Besides the true milestones of life such as a birth – what is a moment you will never forget and do you often think about that moment?)
Naturally the births of my children come up first and our wedding, but also intense moments such as the passing of people that were very close to us. If I do not count those, something I will never forget would probably be my first memory. The moment my parents brought home my baby sister after weeks of absence. I saw my sister through the stairwell laying in the crib my mother carried. Strangely, I think about that moment regularly.
What do the stars mean to you?
The stars give me peace and freedom. I sadly do not see them too often in the city, and do not always really try enough, but when I am on a trip or on vacation, I watch the stars almost every night. It truly relaxes me. The infinity of the universe and the stars, makes me realise we are so small and literally gives off a feeling of space and freedom
What are your dreams for the future? Both business wise and private.
For Four Leaves I have 3 great ambitions: I hope the brand Four Leaves can truly mean something and becomes more than just my story. Assortment wise I want to expand and grow beyond bed linnens and towels. We have recently added beach-towels, scented candles and a chess set, but the true goal would be to become a lifestyle-brand. Considering the donations we make, I want to go beyond the Sri Lankan border and contribute to the lives of children for example in refugee camps in Greece or Rio de Janeiro or anywhere else in the world.
Personally I would love a small and simple nature cabin, for in the weekends or just to get away for the day. A place where we can create our own little world. I notice I really need moments like that, but that it would benefit our family as well. To be able to escape the hectics of everyday life, which I love on the weekdays to be honest. I have been envisioning this for the last 10 years, when I read about the little paradise of Isabel Marant and Jerome Dreyfuss, just outside of Paris. The positive and negative effects of Covid have made me more serious about this dream than ever before…
Each month we interview someone whom we met online or offline, who inspires us in the field of interior design, entrepreneurship and their way of life.
