Edward Wormley Precedent Collection for Drexel Bar Cart Server in Dark Espresso
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Edward Wormley Precedent Collection for Drexel Bar Cart Server in Dark Espresso
About the Item
- Creator:Drexel (Manufacturer),Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 29.75 in (75.57 cm)Width: 37 in (93.98 cm)Depth: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use. Currently being refinished, will be excellent when completed.
- Seller Location:St. Louis, MO
- Reference Number:Seller: S1057 1stDibs: U0812238202594
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.
Drexel
While vintage Drexel Furniture dining tables, dressers and other pieces remain highly desirable for enthusiasts of mid-century modern design, the manufacturer's story actually begins decades before its celebrated postwar-era Declaration line took shape.
In 1903, in the small town of Drexel in the foothills of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, six partners came together to found a company that would become one of the country’s leading furniture producers. The first offerings from Drexel Furniture were simple: a bed, washstand and bureau all crafted from native oakwood, sold as a bedroom suite for $14.50.
One of Drexel’s early innovations was to employ staff designers, something the company initiated in the 1930s. This focus on design, which few other furniture companies were committing to at the time, allowed Drexel to respond to a variety of new and traditional tastes. This included making pieces inspired by historic European furniture, like the popular French Provincial–style Touraine bedroom and dining group that borrowed its curves from Louis XV-era furniture. Others replicated the ornate details of 18th-century chinoiserie or the embellishments of Queen Anne furniture. Always ready to adapt to new customer demands, during World War II, Drexel built a sturdy desk designed especially for General Douglas MacArthur.
In the postwar era, Drexel embraced the clean lines of mid-century modernism with the Declaration collection designed by Stewart MacDougall and Kipp Stewart that featured elegant credenzas and more made in walnut, and the Profile and Projection collections designed with sculptural shapes by John Van Koert. In the 1970s, Drexel introduced high-end furniture in a Mediterranean style.
Drexel changed hands and visions throughout the years. It was managed by one of the original partners — Samuel Huffman — until 1935, at which time his son Robert O. Huffman took over as president. It was then that the company began to expand, with several acquisitions of competitors in the 1950s, including Table Rock Furniture, the Heritage Furniture Co. and more. With the manufacturer’s success — spurred by its embrace of advertising in home and garden magazines — it opened more factories in both North and South Carolina. By 1957, the company that had started with a factory of 50 workers had 2,300 employees and was selling its furniture nationwide.
Drexel underwent a series of name changes in its long history. Its acquisition of Southern Desk Company in 1960 bolstered its production of institutional furniture for dormitories, classrooms, churches and laboratories. In the following decades, contracts with government agencies, hotels, schools and hospitals brought its high-quality furniture to a global audience. U.S. Plywood-Champion Papers bought Drexel Enterprises in 1968, and it became Drexel Heritage Furnishings.
In 2014, the last Drexel Heritage plant, in Morganton, North Carolina, reportedly closed its doors. The company rebranded as Drexel in 2017.
The range of vintage Drexel furniture for sale on 1stDibs includes end tables designed by Edward Wormley, walnut side tables designed by Kipp Stewart and lots more.
- Edward Wormley for Drexel Precedent Collection SideboardBy Drexel, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOMid-Century Modern Wormley for Drexel, his Precedent collection sideboard-buffet, originally designed in the late 1940s. Center drawers with end cabinet doors and interior shelves. P...Category
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- 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
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- Edward Wormley for Drexel Precedent Collection Ebonized 32", 38" or 48" ChestsBy Drexel, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOSingles of Edward Wormley for Drexel chests from the Precedent Collection with brass tone hardware, circa 1947. Size shown in photos is 32" W , also have 38"w and 48" W available ...Category
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- Pair of Edward Wormley for Drexel Arm Chairs - Precedent CollectionBy Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOPair of Edward Wormley for Drexel dining arm chairs for his Precedent Collection circa 1950s, can be used as occasional chairs. Silver Elm refinished in a dark espresso with new tan...Category
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- Pair of Edward Wormley for Drexel Precedent Nightstands or Small ChestsBy Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOPair of silver elm nightstands in dark brown finish with brass hardware. Designed by Edward Wormley for the Precedent collection by Drexel, design...Category
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- Early 1940s Edward J. Wormley Elegant Armchairs for Dunbar in Dark Expresso x 2By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St. Louis, MOEarly 1940s Edward J. Wormley Elegant Neoclassical Style occasional arm chairs for Dunbar model No. 116B. As shown in "The Other Face of Modernism" book on Wormley , and in the 1940s...Category
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- Edward Wormley for Drexel Precedent Rolling Bar CartBy Edward Wormley, DrexelLocated 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
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- Edward Wormley for Drexel Precedent Rolling Bar CartBy Edward WormleyLocated in Pasadena, TXA beautiful rolling bar cart as part of Edward Wormley's Precedent series. Blonde wood, 3 tiered rolling cart with glass shelf and casters. The top features a frosted glass insert. Precedent by Drexel...Category
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$2,800 Sale Price20% Off - Handsome Edward Wormley Precedent Collection Bar Cart, Mid-Century ModernBy Edward WormleyLocated in Pemberton, NJHandsome Edward Wormley for Drexel Precedent collection bar cart. Original light finish with textured glass top and tapered legs on casters. This piece is in vintage condition and do...Category
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- Edward Wormley for Drexel Precedent Collection Coffee TableBy Drexel, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAAn early, modernist Edward Wormley for Drexel coffee table in a trapezoid shape made for the Precedent Collection.Category
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- Edward Wormley Bar Cart for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated 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
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- 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
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