Elegant Edward Wormley for Dunbar Rectangular Cocktail Table with Carpathian Elm
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 15.88 in (40.34 cm)Width: 59.63 in (151.47 cm)Depth: 30.88 in (78.44 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1960
- Condition:Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use. Beautifully Refinished.
- Seller Location:St. Louis, MO
- Reference Number:
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.
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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: St. Louis, MO
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Rare and Elegant Edward Wormley for Dunbar Lounge ArmchairBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St. Louis, MOEdward Wormley for Dunbar lounge chair. Model number 6309, part of the Today and Tomorrow collection, circa 1963. Beautiful channelled mahogany frame with ultra-suede seat and back c...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar SideboardBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St. Louis, MOEdward Wormley for Dunbar for modern 1940s bleached mahogany sideboard, center stepped out, inset oval drawer pulls, center interior with drawers and space to store table pads, end cabinet doors hinged on sides and have curved wood door shelves, on leather plinth base. Original key. To be refinished, custom colors options available. Dunbar quality...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Sideboards
MaterialsLeather, Mahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar MCM Expandable Lacquered Hunter Green Coffee TableBy Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOEdward Wormley for Dunbar coffee table with pull-out extensions (expands 12" on each end). Lacquered in hunter green, hand rubbed finish. Extended is 67-7/8.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMahogany, Lacquer
- Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar Cabinet with Asian HardwareBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St. Louis, MOMid-Century Modern Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar cabinet with brass Asian hardware. All original dark had rubbed finish on ribbon mahogany, top will be polished and touched up prior t...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsBrass
- Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar Club ChairBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOSingle Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar club chair with older re-upholstery on thick tapered legs. Unrestored, ready for new upholstery, legs show age, should be refinished. Email for up...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Large Square Coffee TableBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St. Louis, MOEdward Wormley for Dunbar large square coffee table or low side with parson legs. Price includes refinishing, custom color option available. No lab...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Mid Century Modern Edward Wormley for Dunbar Carpathian Elm Coffee TableBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Chicago, ILMid Century Modern Edward Wormley for Dunbar Carpathian Elm Coffee Table A beautiful and rare Edward Wormley burled triangular top coffee table for Dunbar. The table top rests on ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsElm, Burl
- Carpathian Elm Coffee Table Designed by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Stamford, CTA burled triangular top coffee table rising from three walnut legs tipped with brass caps. Designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1955.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsElm, Walnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Trapezoid Top Cocktail TableBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Dallas, TXA beautiful design by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Simple yet interesting with unique trapezoid top and 4 legs with brass caps.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Cocktail Table with Brass Stretcher, 1950sBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Dallas, TXWe have fully restored this beautiful cocktail table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. It has a mahogany frame and a walnut top, a shelf underneath the top and a brass stretcher that sur...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Edward Wormley Cocktail Table, Dunbar 1950sBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXCocktail table designed by Edward Wormley and manufactured by Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Burl Elm Pentagonal Coffee Table by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Los Angeles, CAPentagonal coffee table designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1970. Burl elm wood table top with walnut trim and a walnut base.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut, Burl
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Kaleidoscopic Upholstery Makes This Edward Wormley Chair a Showstopper
What at first glance seems an unusual choice jibes perfectly with the designer's aesthetic.
Jackie Kennedy and Sister Parish Placed This Tea Table in the White House
The former First Lady kept the Victorian antique, with an elegant chinoiserie design, for the rest of her life.