Mahogany Cabinet By Edward Wormley for Dunbar's New World Collection
View Similar Items
Mahogany Cabinet By Edward Wormley for Dunbar's New World Collection
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 45 in (114.3 cm)Width: 48 in (121.92 cm)Depth: 18 in (45.72 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:c. 1950's
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: 14040180601852
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.
- Arcadia Cabinet by Lawson-FenningBy Lawson-FenningLocated in Los Angeles, CAThe arcadia cabinet features two drawers, two doors, cast brass hardware and a sculptural solid American walnut or white oak base. The Lawson-Fenning Collection is designed and h...Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
$6,585 / item - Arcadia Cabinet by Lawson-FenningBy Lawson-FenningLocated in Los Angeles, CAThe Arcadia cabinet features two drawers, two doors, hand crafted vintage style hardware and a sculptural solid American walnut or white oak base. The Lawson-Fenning Collection is d...Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
$6,585 / item - Oak Platform Cabinet by Lawson-FenningBy Lawson-FenningLocated in Los Angeles, CAThe platform cabinet is a three-door cabinet with a solid American walnut or white oak front and base, with scribed doors. Shown here in Clear Oak. ...Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsOak
$5,985 / item - Thin Frame Cabinet by Lawson-FenningBy Lawson-FenningLocated in Los Angeles, CAThe thin frame cabinet is a four-door case piece with a thin, plated steel base. The interior includes one drawer and adjustable shelves. The Lawson-Fe...Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
$6,785 / item - Oak Balboa Cabinet by Lawson-FenningBy Lawson-FenningLocated in Los Angeles, CAThe Balboa Tall Cabinet features two doors wrapped in a brass band which extrude out to become an elegant hand tooled brass pull. The case is available in American walnut or white oa...Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
$10,685 / item - Walnut Niguel Cabinet by Lawson-FenningBy Lawson-FenningLocated in Los Angeles, CAThe Niguel Cabinet by Lawson-Fenning has a brass stretcher on the base, brass inlaid details on the doors, and insert brass handles. The interior is lacquered. The Lawson-Fenning...Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
$8,995 / item
- Mahogany Cabinet by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Sagaponack, NYAn ebonized mahogany cabinet with seven graduated, recessed-pull drawers, on a recessed plinth leather wrapped base.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsMahogany
- Cabinet by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA walnut cabinet with leather wrapped handles and spruce sliding doors. Designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s Cabinets
MaterialsWalnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Console CabinetBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA beautiful walnut and mahogany console with stone top. Designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s Cabinets
MaterialsWalnut
- Two-Piece Cabinet by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Sagaponack, NYAn ebonized mahogany secretary No. 6065 with pull-out writing desk and multiple drawers/shelves on a leather-wrapped plinth base, shown with superstructure, No. 6086, to serve as a b...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
$24,000 / set - Cinnabar Lacquered Cabinet by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Sagaponack, NYA two-level cabinet having fantastic storage and scale, with a rich custom cinnabar lacquer. The lower level has bi-folding doors concealing a bank of drawers; the upper section features doors with inset antique Chinese printing blocks.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsWalnut
- Floating Cabinets by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, C. 1950sBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Westport, CTElevate your interior with these exquisite mid-century floating cabinets, masterfully designed by the iconic Edward Wormley for Dunbar in the 1950s and meticulously restored to their...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsRosewood, Walnut