COMMERCIAL · SEMINYAK, BALI
Good Times General Store sits within Desa Potato Head, between the hotel and the beach club. Potato Head’s first dedicated retail space sells craft objects, clothing and furniture, and visitors can also join workshops in the store. The project is a collaboration between OMA and Potato Head, where Ade Herkarisma is Head of Architecture and Development.
Through the thatched façade
The building uses local alang-alang thatch, rammed clay earth, bamboo and reclaimed timber. Thatch, more commonly used for roofing, clads the exterior walls, while the rammed earth has both smooth and rough surfaces. Timber frames, dark doorways and wall openings recur through adjoining rooms, offering views of displays and seating from the entrance.
Recycled bamboo offcuts are incorporated into the terrazzo floor. Segmented earthen blocks with openings stand inside the store. Passages run between them, and the openings reveal neighbouring areas.
Five areas, from display to making
The store’s five areas connect to one another. The first presents craft objects, books and records by independent makers from Indonesia and beyond; the second displays Potato Head clothing and travel essentials. Clothing rails sit close to the walls, leaving the centre for seating and low tables where visitors can rest.
The third area houses Wasted, a collection of furniture and homeware developed by Potato Head with British designer Max Lamb using discarded plastic and other recycled materials. Chairs stand on block-like plinths of different heights, with views through doorways into the rooms beyond.
The fourth area is a natural dye studio, and the fifth is used for plastic moulding and material experiments. The displays connect to the workshops, so visitors can browse products and take part in making activities along the way.
Making inside the store
The natural dye studio uses pigments derived from plants and food waste from Desa Potato Head for public dyeing, painting and pattern-making activities. Another experimental area displays shredded high-density polyethylene (HDPE), sourced through waste-collection networks in Bali and Java for plastic moulding and material experiments.
The store’s workshops are also linked to the resort’s existing Waste Lab and Follow the Waste Tour. The former researches ways to turn leftover materials and waste into new products; the latter introduces visitors to how materials move through the resort.
Good Times General Store places workshops beside its displays, giving visitors the chance to try natural dyeing and material experiments as well as shop. The use of local materials and the reuse of waste inform the store’s design, from the building itself to the making activities inside.
Project credits
Project — Good Times General Store
Location — Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Architecture — OMA, in collaboration with the Potato Head architecture team
Head of Architecture and Development, Potato Head — Ade Herkarisma
Wasted collection design collaboration — Max Lamb × Potato Head
Photography — Sharon Angelia
Project and image sources — Potato Head; designboom; Wallpaper*
Editorial adaptation — 01DES
