John Findra’s Pursuit of Imperfection

The Japanese term wabi-sabi refers to the acceptance of impermanence and finding beauty in imperfection. It could be a blanket, frayed from years of use, or a handmade pot that’s a little lumpy around the edges. For John Findra, it’s old automobiles that have been worn by nature, complete with rust holes and paint runs.

He constructs 1:24 scale model replicas of abandoned junkers, a process he calls “underhauling”. “What I try to do in my models is tell a story,” Findra says. “What happened to that car after somebody left it in the weeds to rust, to decay?”

Part of Etsy’s Handmade Portraits series.