Thank you for visiting Gresham Woodworks.  Here in New Orleans, I craft custom furniture and cabinetry to suit your home, office, or business needs using only quality materials of all species, including hardwood, exotic woods, and reclaimed materials, and build to any specification.  Each piece is handcrafted to order, by me, with devoted attention to detail, using traditional woodworking methods and joinery, including hand-cut dovetails, mortise & tenons, and hand-planed surfaces.  All furniture and cabinetry are of heirloom quality and their solid wood construction will stand the test of time.  
                                                                                                                                             -Jeremy Gresham
These are only a few examples of fine furniture I build:

In addition to furniture and cabinetry, I offer a host of other services including custom woodworking, wood turnings, furniture restoration, repair, and refinishing.  Click the services tab above for more information.  You can view the gallery tab above for images of recent work. Inquiries or comments may be sent by using the contact tab or by phone.  Also, be sure to  check the featured tab to see what I'm working on, learn interesting facts, and get helpful tips on furniture care.     
                              Read what previous customers said here. 

Choices for material are almost endless.  If you've found this site, and you're serious about furniture, then we can immediately rule out man made junk like particle board and similar composites.

The material I use is wood.  Hardwood, Softwood, Old or New.  Typically, in fine furniture, I try and use the featured wood as much as possible.  Often, a secondary wood would be used to construct some of the inner components of the piece.  This is a very traditional and practical approach.

In pieces that often include flat panels, such as cabinet or book case sides, or frame and flat panel doors, the choice is cabinet grade veneer ply for the panels.  Why?  Doesn't plywood have a nasty connotation?  Well, the truth is that a good quality ply is constructed of layers (or veneers) of real wood.  Because of the lamination of multiple layers, and the opposing grain orientation in each layer, the result is a very stable and strong product.  Quality plywood allows for simple, clean lines, and eliminates the need for frame and panel construction making slab style cabinet doors and plain cabinet and furniture sides possible.  

Application plays a major role.  Sometimes it's aesthetic, sometimes necessity.  Aspects like durability of oak or maple serve well for high use kitchen cabinets, water and rot resistance of cypress for windows and doors.   Woods like walnut, cherry, mahogany, for example, are generally chosen for their strength and beauty.

Don't forget veneer!  Veneer has a bad reputation.  Once upon a time, it was considered a mark of fine furniture to include quality veneer and marquetry work.  The skill involved and quality of materials were impeccable.  Some time later, production of cheaply made furniture exploited veneer and used it to disguise inferior substrates which quickly failed under use.  Now everyone thinks of some vinyl, fake wood over particle board.  Quality veneer is real wood, sliced thinly and bonded to a stable base or ground, and with the proper execution, creates excellent furniture while preserving the species.