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Why You Need To Stay At Bali’s Most Luxurious Sustainable Resort, Potato Head

31/07/24

Author: Ingrid Kesa

DOCUMENTED BY: INGRID KESA

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A favourite destination for travellers from all around the world, Bali is an island paradise where the promise of beautiful beaches, ricefields, rainforests and volcanoes brings in over 1.34 million tourists a year.

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Dominique Healy

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A favourite destination for travellers from all around the world, Bali is an island paradise where the promise of beautiful beaches, ricefields, rainforests and volcanoes brings in over 1.34 million tourists a year.

Whether seeking spiritual awakenings, tropical relaxation or poolside clubs, visitors can’t get enough of the jewel in Indonesia's archipelago.

Desa Potato Head is one resort taking accountability for its environmental impact and making holidaying with a smaller carbon footprint all the more possible. Located in the vibrant tourist hotspot of Seminyak, you’d hardly realise there’s so much hustle and bustle on the streets outside once you enter the breathtaking Brutalist courtyard of this eco-friendly hotel designed by renowned Dutch architecture firm OMA.

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Known for its iconic Potato Head Beach Club–where musicians like Erykah Badu, Grace Jones, A-Trak and Fat Boy Slim have performed–the complex also includes two boutique accommodation concepts that have been curated to tread gently on the environment.

Dreamed up by Jakarta-born hotelier and art collector Ronald Akili, you’ll first find the Potato Head Suites (which is where I stayed). These hotel rooms are housed inside a beautiful building constructed from hand-shaped terracotta bricks. Modernist elements like mid-century furniture (from Akili’s own collection) come together with traditional Indonesian artisanal accents like naturally-dyed ikat textiles, local ceramics and handmade rugs. Just across the courtyard and closer to the beachfront is the more accessibly-priced Potato Head Studios. A more recent addition, these 168 well-appointed rooms have been created from predominantly upcycled materials like discarded bricks, textile waste reimagined into patchwork rugs, recycled plastic chairs by British designer Max Lamb, and even slippers made from coconut husk.

Mini Basket Bag

Casa Catinella

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The Evening Sandal

ESSĒN

Mini Basket Bag

Casa Catinella

Lily String Bikini Top

BAYTHE

The Evening Sandal

ESSĒN

With the goal of becoming a zero-waste operation and taking sustainability a step further, Potato Head’s mission pivots around regeneration: not just preserving the planet, but leaving it in an even better state. This started back in 2017 when Potato Head began the basic process of separating and sorting their own waste on-site. Over the last seven years, this has seen the amount of waste sent to landfill decrease from 51% to 3%. Organic waste compost is sent to a pig farm and an on-site Waste Lab repurposes post-consumer materials into furniture, art, design objects and decor.

The Waste Lab is proudly on display to the public and hotel guests can see these makers and creators at work. Recognising that becoming completely circular also involves the active participation of guests themselves, daily beach clean-up walks each morning invite patrons to restore Petitenget Beach to its pristine state by collecting plastic litter to return to the Waste Lab. At the Waste Lab, you can also take a behind-the-scenes look at how the hotel’s back of house manages waste up until the production line. Throughout the grounds of the resort, there are eye-catching art installations that incorporate waste such as the unmissable, large-scale sculpture by German art activist Liina Klauss made up of more than 5,000 rubber flip flops collected from Bali’s beaches.

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In 2017 Potato Head became the first hospitality group in the whole Asia region to go carbon neutral by investing in UNFCCC certified carbon projects. They’ve partnered with Fairatmos, a South East Asian climate technology platform, to allow guests the option of offsetting the carbon emissions from their stay by contributing to a forest conservation project in the Central Kalimantan province of Indonesia. The next milestone Potato Head is working towards is reaching net-zero. One way they’re working to achieve this is through their mangrove conservation project. Guests are able to hop on a canoe to remove waste from a local waterway and plant mangrove trees, which remove 2-4 times more carbon emissions from the atmosphere than mature rainforest trees.

There are nine different restaurants and bars on-site at Potato Head, which use ingredients sourced from the resort’s two syntropic farms in West Bali. Founded as a community food project, the farms provide organic and seasonal produce to Potato Head’s establishments. Set up during the pandemic, in the first year of operation the farms harvested over 1,800 kilos of food and donated more than 12,500 meals to Balinese people in need. Make sure you check out Dome, the newest food and drink outlet. A cafe, co-working space and library by day, at night it transforms into a vibey but inviting bar serving natural, organic and biodynamic wines along with elevated seasonal snacks.

Carrie Dress

Silk Laundry

Val Large Stud Earring

Brie Leon

Carrie Dress

Silk Laundry

Val Large Stud Earring

Brie Leon

If all of this doesn’t have you already opening another tab to start planning your next trip, Potato Head’s focus on wellness extends from that of the earth to that of the individual. The Sanctuary Wellness Centre, created in consultation with Ubud-based meditation collective Pyramids of Chi, offers an extensive programme of sound healing, light and vibration experiences, breathwork and ice bath sessions, and guided meditations (just be sure to book in advance before your stay as spots tend to fill quickly!). A newly-opened day spa tends to weary limbs with traditional Balinese massages and treatments using locally-made botanical skincare products.

Potato Head deserves a spot on your next vacation mood board for its architecture, art, atmosphere and, most of all, its inspiring dedication to setting a new tone for regenerative tourism.

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