Dunbar Lounge Chairs by Edward Wormley
View Similar Items
Dunbar Lounge Chairs by Edward Wormley
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 29 in (73.66 cm)Depth: 28 in (71.12 cm)Seat Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:Seller: 3711stDibs: 1302049187438
Edward Wormley
As the longtime director of design for the Dunbar furniture company, Edward Wormley was, along with such peers as George Nelson at Herman Miller Inc., and Florence Knoll of Knoll Inc., one of the leading forces in bringing modern design into American homes in the mid-20th century. Not an axiomatic modernist, Wormley deeply appreciated traditional design, and consequently his work has an understated warmth and a timeless quality that sets it apart from other furnishings of the era.
Wormley was born in rural Illinois and as a teenager took correspondence courses from the New York School of Interior Design. He later attended the Art Institute of Chicago but ran out of money for tuition before he could graduate. Marshall Field hired Wormley in 1930 to design a line of reproduction 18th-century English furniture; the following year he was hired by the Indiana-based Dunbar, where he quickly distinguished himself. It was a good match.
Dunbar was an unusual firm: it did not use automated production systems; its pieces were mostly hand-constructed. For his part, Wormley did not use metal as a major component of furniture; he liked craft elements such as caned seatbacks, tambour drawers, or the woven-wood cabinet fronts seen on his Model 5666 sideboard of 1956. He designed two lines for Dunbar each year — one traditional, one modern — until 1944, by which time the contemporary pieces had become the clear best sellers.
Many of Wormley’s signature pieces — chairs, sofas, tables and more — are modern interpretations of traditional forms. His 1946 Riemerschmid Chair — an example is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art — recapitulates a late 19th-century German design. The long, slender finials of his Model 5580 dining chairs are based on those of Louis XVI chairs; his Listen-to-Me Chaise (1948) has a gentle Rococo curve; the “Precedent” line that Wormley designed for Drexel Furniture in 1947 is a simplified, pared-down take on muscular Georgian furniture. But he could invent new forms, as his Magazine table of 1953, with its bent wood pockets, and his tiered Magazine Tree (1947), both show. And Wormley kept his eye on design currents, creating a series of tables with tops that incorporate tiles and roundels by the great modern ceramicists Otto and Gertrud Natzler.
As the vintage items on 1stDibs demonstrate, Edward Wormley conceived of a subdued sort of modernism, designing furniture that fits into any decorating scheme and does not shout for attention.
- Pair Dunbar Lounge Slipper Chairs by Edward Wormley, 1960By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Chicago, ILPair Dunbar Lounge Slipper Chairs by Edward Wormley, 1960. Walnut legs restored and newly reupholstered in blue boucle.Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Slipper Chairs
MaterialsBouclé, Walnut
- Dunbar Leather and Brass Lounge Chairs by Edward Wormley, 1960By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Chicago, ILDunbar Leather and Brass Lounge Chairs by Edward Wormley, 1960. Original leather.Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBrass
- Dunbar Model 7350 Sofas by Edward WormleyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Chicago, ILDunbar Model 7350 sofas by Edward Wormley. Vintage 1970’s sofas with more recent grey & pink silk upholstery.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsSilk
$9,500 / set - Dunbar Bookcase Wall Units by Edward WormleyBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Chicago, ILPair of bookcases designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1960. Fully restored. Espresso stained mahogany, glass shelves, and brass details. Glass shelves can be arranged as nee...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Bookcases
MaterialsBrass
$9,500 / set - Edward Wormley for Dunbar Bench, 1960By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Chicago, ILEdward Wormley for Dunbar Bench, 1960. Restored and reupholstered in gray mohair.Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Benches
MaterialsMohair, Walnut
- Dunbar Tete a Tete Sofa by Edward Wormley, 1960By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Chicago, ILDunbar Tete a Tete Sofa by Edward Wormley, 1960. Newly reupholstered in a beautiful cut velvet. Tete a Tete is also on casters. Measures 91" long, 2...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsVelvet
- Four Dunbar Janus Lounge Chairs by Edward WormleyBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA beautifully restored set of four matching Janus lounge chairs with walnut frames and green velvet upholstery. Designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s Lounge Chairs
MaterialsVelvet, Walnut
$24,000 / set - 1950s Tufted Lounge Chair by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Sagaponack, NYAn armless button tufted lounge chair of generous proportion having exposed walnut base. Model: 5000.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Swivel Lounge ChairsBy Edward WormleyLocated in West Palm Beach, FLEdward Wormley design swivel lounge chairs for Dunbar, model #5609 Refinished and reupholstered in a cotton velvet fabric.Category
Vintage 1960s American Chairs
$9,800 / set - Channel Back Lounge Chair by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXAn unusual and early design by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. This channel back lounge chair has mahogany trim and aluminum legs. Fully restored and reupholstered in Designtex / Lambert ...Category
Vintage 1950s Lounge Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
- 1960s Leather Lounge Chair and Ottoman by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Sagaponack, NYWith a nod to the immense popularity of Charles Eames's swivel lounge chair and ottoman, Wormley capitalized on the popularity of his own stationary, winged lounge chair and ottoman ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather
- Pair of Dunbar High Back "Mr." Lounge Chairs by Edward WormleyBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA “Mr.” chair from one of Edward Wormley designs for Dunbar. The pair is upholstered in a woven fabric. Chair has a high back, sloped sides and arms, and sits on four thick legs that...Category
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany
$7,600 Sale Price / set20% Off