A potato head (me) stays at the Desa Potato Head in Bali
While searching for meaning, the Wear Many Hats World Tour continues in Bali
Since we started Wear Many Hats, we go on a World Tour. An excuse to explore, get outside of our comfort zone, and enter time zones that forces us to beat jet lag when we get there but when we come home, the jet lag beats us. Every time we come back from a Wear Many Hats World Tour, our friends asks us, where to next? We don’t really know. We only go where certain life events happen so this time was very special. We were going to Bali. Ever since I was a kid, when I hear someone go to Bali I think of two things:
You must be into spirituality and Hinduism
You got it like that
Bali was never on my list. I heard that the tourism each year is making it a little bit unbearable but it balances out because the Balinese are the kindest and sweetest people you will ever meet. Kim Herben teaches us that if you put your tongue to the roof of your mouth, you can easily ignore the tourists acting out on you. You will learn more about our wonderful new friend who is the head of wellbeing at Potato Head more below. We planned our trip to Bali in the beginning of the year because of our best and guest of Wear Many Hats, Marissa Le, and her wedding taking place in Bali. Although her wedding was going to be on the east side of Bali, we had days to kill arriving early while Marissa and her family were settling in. To begin, how did we get here? How did we learn about Potato Head?
Earlier this year after buying our Bali flights, we needed to plan where we were going to stay the first few days of arriving in Bali. I was already checked out of 2025. I picked up a side side gig to get back into food and beverage that was dreadful but at the same time, I was doing things I loved to balance it out. When I worked the coffee gig, I remember this D-list, maybe F-list actor who I worked with asked “Are you happy with your life? Are you living your dream?” Besides working with her, I told her I was. I was photographing a bunch of new projects I never thought I would before and was starting a new company I was hesitant in starting. I had a plan after crashing out in December but it all started to make sense. Matsar.
We were down to the wire on needing a place to stay at the beginning of our trip but I decided to worry later. In April, our friend and guest of the show, Justin Esposito was doing a Oyster pop up at our friend and guest of the show’s brilliant wine bar, Million Goods. I’ve been lowkey consulting for Justin on his Oyster pop up in NYC that was so glad it came to fruition. Justin was asking questions of where to have the pop up, where to stay, and how much does our studio, Dahsar, charge to do advertising campaigns. The Oyster pop up came and I couldn’t be more proud of Justin having it at Million Goods. Even his brother Christopher came by. Long story short, me and Christopher were roommates while I lived in Philly and I got Justin into streetwear, blessing him with goods from Dahsar.
Throughout the event, I spotted Emma Leigh Macdonald with Rowan Spencer at the bar. The two were planning their family affair for MPC Restaurant with FRAMA at Million Goods during NYC x Design week. I came up to them and remembered the two were just in Japan for a belated honeymoon. I asked Emma how she was doing and how their trip was. She told me everything that made me want to go back to Japan and I couldn’t be more excited for them. I told her I was going to Bali and hopefully I get back to Japan because of the harvest season for our matcha for Matsar. I asked her if she’s ever been to Bali only because we need a place to stay for the first few days of the wedding. She said that Rowan and her briefly stayed at Potato Head and that I should stay there. Of course the first thing that comes to everyones mind is: what a wild and interesting name. I’m down.
I told her about my trips coming up and hopefully I’m back before summer starts in the states because New York Summers rule. She said to stay out there as much as possible because New York summers will always be here.
As soon as I got home, I opened up the website and booked it.
Desa Potato Head is designed by Rem Koolhaas’s firm OMA and the celebrated Indonesian architect Andra Matin. “Desa” means “village” in Indonesian and is opened by Ronald Akili. Their mantra is ‘Good Times, Do Good’ and the mantra carries itself across their beach club, spa, fitness center, wellness hub, music recording studio, and the nightclub Klymax Discoteque (a design collaboration between famed dance music pioneer DJ Harvey and OMA)
Beyond all of that, Potato Head is known for its zero-waste sustainability practices. They do not allow plastic water bottles into their spaces and is the first hospitality company to achieve carbon neutrality. When you visit, you can tell that they try very hard to maintain it and has reduced its landfill waste by 97.5% over the last decade.
For guests outside who are not staying at the resort or would like to enter the Beach Club, you first enter by touring their Waste Center. The Waste Center is an in-house recycling facility, where Potato Head employees show you how the hotel’s plastic waste is broken down and re-processed into design objects such as their chairs, coasters, water bottle caps, and the signage to display their room numbers. We bought a bunch of their designs from the gift shop for friends back home such as coasters, notepads, and pens.
First night we balled out and got room service. We spent everyday at the pool and ate their amazing complimentary breakfast serving the best fruit that I ordered continuously to our beach chair. We got massages, did a sound bath, boxing, and ate at both of the restaurants that Potato Head has including Ijen Restaurant and Kaum Restaurant. We chilled on the rooftop at Sunset Park, took a Jamu making class in the Dome Restaurant, but did not dance at Klymax although friend and guest of the show, Jubilee had a DJ set there recently.
Mind you these were the first few days of being in Bali. On the last night staying at Potato Head, I had a dream that could have been considered a nightmare who knows. In my dream, I was seeing the same person from my past once a month and when we ran into each other, they would say one word to me, making up a sentence or paragraph that was never finished. I wanted to see that person everyday to see what they were saying to me but as the months went by, I would rarely see them anymore and they would fade and then disappear. I woke up sobbing and whimpering like a dog but didn’t even know it.
That morning we were ready to check out but before we did, we had a 6am meditation with our wonderful new friend and teacher, Kim Herben, head of wellbeing at Potato Head. We go down to see her, find our mats, and begin to meditate with the sound of her voice and musical score she brought to her practice. I needed this even though we did no yoga during our time at Potato Head but that’s ok, the meditation was perfect enough to slow us down before the wedding. Not even half way though the session, she says to picture someone in front of you. It could be someone alive, someone you used to know or someone dead and to have a conversation with them. Tears left my eyes. Was this part two to the dream I had that same night? Who knows but after we were done, Kim asked for us to participate in a circle and draw cards from Prophecies by Naomi Samara. I picked two that were Balance and Restore. Little before she asked for us to say our name and what was on our mind. I told the circle my name and I paused for a couple of minutes because I wanted to share my dream last night but I couldn’t. It was too fresh. The sound of the waves choked me instead and I continued to say that we were here for my best friend’s wedding.
I thought I already had my white lotus moment in Thailand, but nothing was as white lotus as compared to our time in Bali.