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Wabi-Sabi Benz

Ever since I started the conversion, I’ve been asking myself: how perfect does it need to be, and can I actually manage it? As I don’t have the experience of a craftsman and I’m not exactly a gifted tinker either, it’s probably rather unlikely that it’ll turn out flawless.

But do I even want that, or do I have the time, or can I afford it? My answer is NO. I also lack the ambition to be perfect.

Actually, the Atego was supposed to be called ‘SÄK.LE’, but once I realised that, I looked for words that describe ‘not perfect’. My friends gave me feedback, and that’s what came back – or rather, that’s what I found.

  • Imperfect Benz: Lacks perfection or has minor faults.
  • Crude Benz : Built in a simple, rough, or unpolished way.
  • Nearly Benz, The Almost Benz, The Nearly there Benz, The Virtually there Benz, The Quirky Benz
  • Frankenstein
  • SeLECT (an insider joke)
  • SubPar Benz...  Not measuring up to traditional standards of performance value or production…
  • The Base Benz
  • Iffy or Patchy Beast
  • ....
    ‎

And Wabi Sabi Benz (WSB)

Wabi-Sabi is a traditional Japanese aesthetics concept that finds profound beauty and harmony in what is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.

Rooted deeply in Zen Buddhism, this philosophy serves as a quiet counter-weight to modern pressures of efficiency and absolute perfection.

Core Meaning

  • Wabi: Refers to simplicity, humility, rustic quietness, and a voluntary withdrawal from material excess or artificial gloss.
  • Sabi: Refers to the beauty and elegance that comes with age, wear, and the natural passage of time, such as a weathered patina or a fine crack.

Key Aesthetic Principles

  • Impermanence: Accepting that all things grow, decay, and eventually pass away.
  • Asymmetry: Valuing irregular and organic shapes over rigid symmetry.
  • Naturalness: Embracing materials and forms without pretense or excessive decoration.

And this really describes it and me best!

So the SÄK.LE will become the 

Wabi Sabi Benz (WSB)

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