When Ronald Akili needed bricks for his Katamama hotel in 2016, he didn’t order from a supplier. The Jakarta-born entrepreneur commissioned an entire Balinese village to hand-press 1.5 million bricks using centuries-old techniques, the same methods used to build ancient temples. The terracotta facade would oxidise and change colour over time, creating a living building.
It was an audacious move that epitomised Akili’s approach: reject the conventional, celebrate Indonesian craftsmanship, and make it unmissable. Six years after opening Katamama, Akili launched Desa Potato Head in 2020 – Indonesia’s first carbon-neutral hospitality brand, where 97 per cent of waste is recycled in-house. The seven-acre creative village, anchored by an OMA-designed hotel by Rem Koolhaas, now employs more than 1,000 people across properties in Bali, Jakarta, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The gamble started as a lark. In 2009, Akili was working as a real estate investor and art collector in Jakarta when his wife Sandra Juwita Budiman-Akili, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef, wanted to open a restaurant. According to CNN’s 2016 profile, Akili had no business plan and no hospitality experience. He and co-founder Jason Gunawan opened Potato Head Jakarta in Pacific Place mall – a restaurant and bar decorated with local artists’ work. The name itself was deliberately anti-establishment. “Back then in Jakarta, all the restaurants had fancy names,” Akili told the Wall Street Journal in 2019. “We wanted to create something different. We thought if we name it Potato Head everyone will turn around and ask why.”
The concept exploded. Within a year, Akili and Gunawan expanded to Bali, transforming the brand into a large-scale beach club. According to Hashtag Legend’s August 2016 coverage, Akili was “quite overwhelmed” by the success. “We were just having fun, but I fell in love with the industry,” he noted. The Potato Head Beach Club opened in 2010 in Seminyak, designed by Indonesian architect Andra Matin. The building’s dramatic exterior comprised 15,000 vintage Dutch colonial window shutters sourced from across Indonesia, arranged in a horseshoe-plan colosseum with a sprawling lawn. Matin told Hashtag Legend that Akili had returned from his Roman honeymoon asking: “Would you like to make a colosseum Andra-style?”
The artisan-driven hotel strategy
Katamama hotel launched in April 2016 as PTT Family’s first foray into accommodation. The 58-room all-suite property took nearly six years to design and build, according to Dafta’s View coverage from June 2016. Every element showcased Indonesian craftsmanship: hand-dyed indigo textiles from Tjok Agung Indigo workshop outside Ubud, contemporary Indonesian artwork, teakwood furniture, terrazzo floors, and Javanese tiles. Singap ore-based design firm Takenouchi Webb collaborated with Matin on interiors.
The philosophy extended to operations. According to Hotelier Indonesia’s 2016 coverage, Katamama broke hospitality convention with flexible check-in times, no buffets, and artisanal cocktails made with local arak moonshine at the Akademi bar. The concept was simple: create a sanctuary guests could genuinely inhabit. “I have three boys, so family values are really important,” Akili told Dafta’s View. “I wanted to create a sanctuary with a homey feel.”
The portfolio expanded rapidly. By 2016, PTT Family operated seven locations across three countries with more than 1,000 employees, according to CNN reporting from that period. Potato Head Folk opened in Singapore’s Chinatown in 2014. In May 2016, Potato Head Hong Kong launched in Sai Ying Pun with Kaum restaurant – named after the Indonesian word for tribe – showcasing lesser-known ingredients and traditional cooking methods. The 8,000-square-foot space featured hand-painted panels by the Toraja people of South Sulawesi and Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto’s geometric glass facade.
Carbon-neutral creative village
Desa Potato Head opened in May 2020 as Bali’s first “creative village” – a seven-acre compound integrating Potato Head Beach Club, Katamama, and Potato Head Studios, the OMA-designed centrepiece. According to Hotel Management’s March 2020 coverage, the project took a decade to realise. OMA’s managing partner David Gianotten led the architectural vision, creating a 168-room hotel elevated 24 feet above ground at one end. “The essence of Bali lies in the interaction between different cultures,” Gianotten explained to The Artling. “Dedicated to both guests and the community, our design encourages exchange between different kinds of users and challenges the typical Balinese resort typology that highlights exclusivity.”
The sustainability credentials are substantive, not performative. According to Designboom’s July 2024 reporting, Desa Potato Head achieved carbon-neutral status in partnership with the United Nations – the first hospitality property in the region to do so. Only three per cent of waste reaches landfills; 97 per cent is managed in-house through recycling and repurposing via the Sustainism Lab. British designers Max Lamb and Faye Toogood created furniture and amenities from recycled plastics and planet-friendly materials, manufactured by Balinese artisans. Lamb’s desk chairs feature melted plastics locked in resin; offcuts became coasters and jar lids.
The Wall Street Journal’s September 2019 profile noted the complex recycles 95 per cent of waste. Toogood’s wall hangings, carpets, and throws were naturally dyed and handwoven at Tarum Bali workshop an hour from Seminyak. OMA cast textured concrete walls in moulds of reclaimed wood to suggest brickwork. Even tissue boxes and soap dispensers came from Sustainism Lab, created with Styrofoam, oyster shells, plastic bottles and powdered limestone.
Programming beyond hospitality
Desa Potato Head operates as cultural infrastructure. The compound includes six restaurants, a music recording studio, gallery, sustainability workshops for adults and children at Sweet Potato Lab, curated library, listening lounge Studio Eksotika, co-working centre, and streaming station Headstream broadcasting 12 hours daily. According to The Yak Magazine’s March 2019 interview, Akili conceived the property as a catalyst for change. “What if we are able to evolve hospitality not only as a service industry but as a catalyst for greater change?” he said. “We interact with around 10,000 people every day among our guests, colleagues, partners and stakeholders.”
Ijen restaurant, launched within the complex, became the region’s first zero-waste dining venue. According to de51gn’s September 2022 coverage, Ijen serves more than 3,000 people daily with just three per cent of rubbish reaching landfills. Tanaman restaurant offers plant-based Indonesian cuisine in a dome-shaped space designed by OMA. Green Is The New Black’s March 2020 review described the futuristic environment featuring neon lighting, reflective floors, and an open kitchen.
Cultural programming includes artist residencies and installations. German art activist Liina Klauss created ‘5,000 Lost Soles’, a large-scale installation of flip-flops collected from Bali’s shores, displayed at the beach club. Balinese artist Nano Uhero’s ‘The Womb’ – a woven bamboo tunnel – serves as the Desa’s entryway and zero-waste gallery. American graffiti artist Futura contributed sculptures made from repurposed waste materials collected from waterways.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Potato Head launched Sweet Potato Project, a community farming initiative. According to Skift Live coverage, the programme harvested approximately 1,800 kilograms of food whilst providing more than 12,500 meals to the local community, delivered in buses fueled by used cooking oil.
Family heritage and expansion trajectory
Akili’s hospitality instincts have roots in family tradition. His father Rudy founded Smailing Tours, a prominent Jakarta travel agency, and built one of Indonesia’s largest contemporary art collections, now housed in the Akili Museum of Art. Ronald launched Ark Galerie, his own contemporary art space, at age 26 before transitioning to real estate investment.
The design sensibility reflects deliberate tension between tradition and modernity. “We are globally exposed, but also proud of our heritage,” Akili told The Yak Magazine in June 2016. “Katamama is a product of that.” Architect Matin told Hashtag Legend that Akili “thinks out of the box” and “works with no limit.”
In 2021, Condé Nast Traveller recognised Akili as one of 20 people taking action to protect the planet. The sustainability ethos extended to The Wasted Collective, a unisex apparel brand launched in 2025 featuring elevated casual wear made from recycled materials. According to Whitewall’s August 2025 coverage, Jesse Leyva – former Nike design director – serves as creative director. The collection features fleece hoodies, cargo jackets, t-shirts and pants processed through three primary methods: Washi, EcoLife and Recraft.
What comes next
The Wall Street Journal’s 2019 profile indicated expansion plans targeting Japan, Sydney, Melbourne and downtown Los Angeles. Japanese architect Kengo Kuma was signed to design Desa Potato Head Tabanan, an eco-retreat with modular jungle huts up the coast from Seminyak. According to Tatler Asia, the brand’s ethos centres on #GoodTimesDoGood – the principle that positive experiences should generate positive environmental and community impact.
The hospitality brand runs seven bars and seven restaurants across the Seminyak site alone, with additional venues in Hong Kong, Singapore and Jakarta. Whether the model scales beyond Southeast Asia whilst maintaining artisanal production and zero-waste standards represents the operational challenge ahead. For now, the trajectory from side project restaurant to carbon-neutral creative village suggests Akili’s instinct for moving against trends – down to deliberately ridiculous naming – has commercial validation. As he told The Artling: “It’s easier to accept change when the end result is beautiful.”
