Jenggala

The Art of Everyday Objects

There are shops you enter because you need something. And there are shops where you suddenly discover that you apparently need an entirely new tea service. Jenggala belongs firmly to the second category.

Its flagship store in Jimbaran is enormous, elegant and almost dangerously easy to wander through without noticing the time. Shelves and displays are filled with ceramics in every conceivable form: plates, bowls, cups, teapots, serving dishes, vases and objects whose usefulness may occasionally be secondary to the simple pleasure of owning something beautiful. What makes Jenggala special, however, is that the beauty never feels disconnected from the craft.

Founded in Bali in 1976 by New Zealand potter Brent Hesselyn and Indonesian hotelier Wija Waworuntu, Jenggala began as a small experimental pottery workshop in Sanur. As Bali’s hospitality industry grew, so did the company, developing tableware for hotels and restaurants while gradually building a visual language of its own. Nearly fifty years later, its ceramics are still handmade in Bali, using clay bodies and glazes developed in-house, with the slight variations in colour, texture and finish that come with objects made by human hands rather than machines.

The range is extraordinary. Some pieces are unmistakably Balinese in inspiration, while others are restrained enough to live comfortably on a table almost anywhere in the world. A simple rice bowl can sit a few metres from an elaborate serving piece, an eccentric frog-shaped object or an entire dinner service. Jenggala has developed thousands of designs and glaze finishes over the decades, balancing local references with a remarkably contemporary understanding of form and colour.

But I do not come here only to shop. Jimbaran’s roads can be hot, dusty and exhausting, and I sometimes find myself entering Jenggala simply because it offers an improbably civilised escape from all of that. The temperature drops, the traffic disappears and browsing ceramic tableware suddenly becomes a perfectly reasonable way of spending an afternoon.

Then there is Paint-a-Pot. Choose a cup, bowl or plate, sit down at the workshop and paint it yourself. There is no requirement whatsoever to possess artistic talent, which is fortunate for most of us. When you have finished, Jenggala fires the piece in its own kilns and you return several days later to collect your creation. The official programme currently allows visitors to choose from a range of ceramic pieces, with firing done on site and collection generally five to seven days later.

I particularly like doing this with a cup. There is something wonderfully restorative about sitting quietly for an hour, concentrating on colour and brushstrokes while the outside world continues being unnecessarily noisy. And however imperfect the result may be, you leave Bali with something rather more personal than another souvenir chosen from a shelf.

If creativity produces an appetite, there is also a café beside the painting area, serving coffee, tea and Indonesian and Western dishes. So Jenggala manages to be several things at once: store, workshop, design space and café, without any of them feeling artificially attached to the others.

Few specialised shops in Bali can compete with it as an actual destination. Come for a plate. Stay for the afternoon. And leave several days later with a slightly wonky cup you will probably treasure more than everything else you bought.

The Address

 

Jenggala Flagship Store

Jl. Uluwatu II
Jimbaran, South Kuta
Badung, Bali 80361
Indonesia
Website
jenggala.com

Price

$$ — Moderate to premium
Individual pieces currently begin at around IDR 70K–200K for smaller objects, with larger tableware, sets and decorative pieces rising considerably from there.

Go for

Handcrafted Balinese ceramics, tableware, serving pieces, gifts and objects you did not know you needed until you saw them.

Bring Home

A piece you will actually use. A beautifully glazed bowl, cup or serving plate makes a far better souvenir than something destined to spend its life in a drawer.

Try

Paint-a-Pot. Choose your ceramic piece, paint it at the studio and collect it after firing a few days later. Current pieces for the activity generally start around IDR 150K–200K, depending on what you choose.

Recommendation

Do not treat Jenggala as a quick shopping stop. Give yourself time to browse, have a coffee and paint something if your schedule allows it. If you are leaving Bali soon, do the workshop early enough in your stay: your finished piece needs several days in the kiln process before collection.