In this lo-tek furniture course, students will explore the precision, restraint, and ingenuity of traditional Japanese wood joinery—an approach that embodies sustainability and craftsmanship without reliance on modern fasteners or machinery. Focusing on Sashimono, the art of assembling wooden structures without nails or screws, participants will learn to design and fabricate joints that rely solely on geometry, friction, and craftsmanship. Through hands-on exercises, students will experiment with Tsugite (straight and spliced joints for connecting lengths of wood), Kigoroshi (wood compression techniques that allow snug, reversible fits), and Kumiko, the delicate lattice framework often used in screens and cabinetry. Students will work exclusively with traditional Japanese hand tools, including the Dozuki (fine joinery saw), Nomi(chisels for carving and paring), Kanna (planes for flattening and smoothing), and Gennō (dual-faced hammer for precise striking). The emphasis will be on understanding material behavior, tactile precision, and the relationship between form, function, and fabrication. In the final phase of the course, each student will design and construct a small furniture piece—such as a stool, side table, or modular component—demonstrating their mastery of traditional joinery principles. By the end of the course, participants will have developed both conceptual and technical insights into how ancient low-tech methods can inform modern product and industrial design—revealing new ways to think about modularity, repairability, and sustainable construction.