diff --git a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/entity/db-team-settings.ts b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/entity/db-team-settings.ts
index f4945189125655..8848b94fd9512c 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/entity/db-team-settings.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/entity/db-team-settings.ts
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ export class DBOrgSettings implements OrganizationSettings {
     })
     workspaceSharingDisabled?: boolean;
 
-    @Column()
-    defaultWorkspaceImage?: string; // TODO: migration
+    @Column("varchar", { nullable: true })
+    defaultWorkspaceImage?: string | null; // TODO: migration
 
     @Column()
     deleted: boolean;
diff --git a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/team-db-impl.ts b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/team-db-impl.ts
index af6b4b77d7b9d9..74b2f29aa26ae5 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/team-db-impl.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/team-db-impl.ts
@@ -381,7 +381,10 @@ export class TeamDBImpl extends TransactionalDBImpl<TeamDB> implements TeamDB {
         if (settings.workspaceSharingDisabled != undefined) {
             update.workspaceSharingDisabled = settings.workspaceSharingDisabled;
         }
-        if (settings.defaultWorkspaceImage) {
+        // Set to null if defaultWorkspaceImage is empty string, so that we can fallback to default when getting org settings
+        if (settings.defaultWorkspaceImage?.trim() === "") {
+            update.defaultWorkspaceImage = null;
+        } else if (settings.defaultWorkspaceImage != undefined) {
             update.defaultWorkspaceImage = settings.defaultWorkspaceImage;
         }
         if (!team) {
diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/go/gitpod-service.go b/components/gitpod-protocol/go/gitpod-service.go
index 9d1dea0d722def..eac97d4841c235 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-protocol/go/gitpod-service.go
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/go/gitpod-service.go
@@ -2256,8 +2256,8 @@ type TeamMembershipInvite struct {
 }
 
 type OrganizationSettings struct {
-	WorkspaceSharingDisabled bool   `json:"workspaceSharingDisabled,omitempty"`
-	DefaultWorkspaceImage    string `json:"defaultWorkspaceImage,omitempty"`
+	WorkspaceSharingDisabled bool    `json:"workspaceSharingDisabled,omitempty"`
+	DefaultWorkspaceImage    *string `json:"defaultWorkspaceImage,omitempty"`
 }
 
 type Project struct {
diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/teams-projects-protocol.ts b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/teams-projects-protocol.ts
index 6f5044c6f4429c..0a0c54f2947b88 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/teams-projects-protocol.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/teams-projects-protocol.ts
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ export interface Organization {
 
 export interface OrganizationSettings {
     workspaceSharingDisabled?: boolean;
-    defaultWorkspaceImage?: string;
+    defaultWorkspaceImage?: string | null;
 }
 
 export type TeamMemberRole = OrgMemberRole;