Edward Wormley for Dunbar Bar or Serving Cart
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley for Dunbar Bar or Serving Cart
About the Item
- Creator:Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer),Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 32.5 in (82.55 cm)Depth: 38.5 in (97.79 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. good original condition.
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU92339850223
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 vintage seating, storage cabinets, bar carts and other 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.
Dunbar Furniture
Revered for its handcrafted and highly collectible mid-century modern sofas, coffee tables and other furnishings, Dunbar Furniture was founded in 1910 in Berne, Indiana, but it didn’t gain widespread recognition until the ’30s, following the introduction of its president to a designer who would leave an indelible mark on the company’s legacy: Edward Wormley.
After a stint at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Oswego, Illinois-born Wormley worked as an interior designer for Marshall Field’s before joining Dunbar in 1931. Initially focused on developing the company’s cheapest furniture line, which could be bought with soap coupons, he was soon leading Dunbar Furniture into a new era of residential furniture for modern American homes. He would serve as the company’s design director for over three decades, designing about 150 pieces each year.
During that time, he oversaw the production of designs in a wide range of materials, with influences ranging from Scandinavian modernism to Art Deco. There were modern upholstery pieces, like swiveling lounge chairs and low-slung sofas, and experiments with textural wood on bar carts and cabinets as well as minimal, sculptural tables and functional office furniture. A passionate collector of Tiffany Studios lamps, Wormley used their glass tiles in Dunbar tables in 1956. He also worked on the reproduction of pieces by designers such as Jean-Michel Frank and Richard Riemerschmid.
One standout Dunbar Furniture collection was Janus, introduced in the 1960s, with Austrian-born ceramicists Otto and Gertrud Natzler. These pieces see the Natzlers’ uniquely artful ceramic tiles set into several styles of wooden tables. They remain some of the most sought-after mid-century modern Dunbar pieces on the vintage market today. During the peak of his design career and, indeed, the height of Dunbar Furniture’s history, Wormley amassed a whopping 30 Good Design awards between 1950 and 1955 through the “Good Design” exhibition, hosted by the Chicago Merchandise Mart and the Museum of Modern Art. Dunbar today produces a limited selection of archival Wormley designs, but many sales of original Dunbar pieces are through the resale market.
Find a collection of authentic vintage Dunbar Furniture today on 1stDibs.
- Ritts Serving Bowl and Tongs for AstroliteLocated in Chicago, ILCollectible mid-century biomorphic-shape acrylic bowl by Ritts Co. of Los Angeles for Astrolite. Complete with original tongs, labelled. Thick Lucite bowl measures 19"W x 12.5"D x 6"H. Utensils measure 15"Lx4"W. The Ritts company...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Serving Bowls
MaterialsLucite
- Ritts Lucite Centerpiece for Astrolite, 1970'sLocated in Chicago, ILThick and sculptural Lucite boat-shaped centerpiece by Herbert & Shirley Ritts for Astrolite, 1970's. Good Condition, Original Condition Unaltered, Some Im...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
MaterialsLucite
- Pair of Mastercraft Vitrine Display Cabinets or EtageresBy MastercraftLocated in Chicago, ILPair of brass and glass display cabinets or vitrines by Mastercraft. These chic and elegant cabinets are in remarkably good condition for their age featuring a smoke mirrored back pa...Category
Vintage 1970s American Hollywood Regency Vitrines
MaterialsBrass
$6,800 Sale Price / set20% Off - Jack Cartwright for Founders Secretary with DrawersBy Jack Cartwright, Founders Furniture CompanyLocated in Chicago, ILMidcentury walnut tall dresser with a pullout secretary and three lower drawers designed by Jack Cartwright for Founders Furniture Co. This hig...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Secretaires
MaterialsWalnut
- Leon Rosen Racetrack Mirror for Pace CollectionBy Leon Rosen, Pace CollectionLocated in Chicago, IL20th century free standing racetrack design floor mirror with Demi-lune glass table crafted in chrome frame with brass inset accent.Category
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Floor Mirrors and Full-Length Mirrors
MaterialsBrass, Chrome
$2,156 Sale Price20% Off - T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings for Widdicomb Glove Box NightstandsBy T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Widdicomb Furniture Co.Located in Chicago, ILGlove box nightstands model #4001 designed by T.H. Robjohn Gibbings for Widdicomb, 1950s. Restored walnut box with a single pull-out drawer with cane and brass accent handles. Stands on brushed brass tapered legs, original label in the drawer. These iconic nightstands...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Night Stands
MaterialsMarble, Brass
$7,196 Sale Price / set20% Off
- Edward Wormley Bar Cart for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAAn ebonized bar cart by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, USA, c.1960s. The cart features a white laminate flip top surface with a double sided caned door f...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
MaterialsBrass
- Edward Wormley for Drexel Precedent Rolling Bar CartBy Drexel, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAPistachio green rolling bar cart from the Precedent series by Edward Wormley for Dunbar circa 1960. 3 tiered rolling cart featuring a textured glass top and casters. Precedent by Drexel...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
MaterialsWood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Flip-Top Serving or Bar CartBy Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MODescription: Serving cart, two drawers, base in mahogany with brass castors, top in walnut with flip-top for extra serving surface, gold Dunbar label, model number 215, white laminat...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
MaterialsBrass
- Cork Bar Cart by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, 1960s, SignedBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis classic Edward Wormley for Dunbar bar cart, circa 1960s, features a cork top with brass trim and the two lower platforms also w...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
MaterialsWood, Cork
$2,700 Sale Price25% Off - 1950s Edward Wormley for Dunbar Bar CartBy Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CABar cart by Dunbar. Glass top with two leaves. Made of mahogany.Category
Vintage 1950s Carts and Bar Carts
MaterialsMahogany
- Mid-Century Modern Bar Cart Edward Wormley for Dunbar C1953By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Port Jervis, NYFabulous bar cart/server with a drop down top which is 27 inches and 54 when raised, shelves for bottles, cupboard for glasses and other necessities. Model # 5433 created out of waln...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dry Bars
MaterialsBrass