Petite Vanity/Writing Table with Stool Designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 33.25 in (84.46 cm)Width: 27.25 in (69.22 cm)Depth: 16.25 in (41.28 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1950s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. One corner scuff to laminate along with a couple of frame nicks, as shown. Original beige naugahyde is clean, showing only light wear, and the color corresponds well with the surface. Overall, very good, original condition.
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- 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: Brooklyn, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Sofa with Brass FeetBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NY1950s Edward Wormley for Dunbar sofa on brass, tapered legs. The section under the backrest is recessed. Recently restored and reupholstered (last two years). However, there are two ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsBrass
- Illuminated Glass World Globe on Mahogany Stand by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Rand McNally & Co., Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NYMahogany sculptural globe stand supported by brass sabots originally designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar in 1953. The globe itself is a 16" Rand McNally Terrestrial globe composed ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Globes
MaterialsBrass
- Pair of Lounge Chairs in Mahogany and Velvet by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NYPair of diminutive lounge chairs by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, (circa 1947, USA). Pair includes brass caster wheels, which can easily be added or removed for better stability, as sho...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBrass
- Petite Italian Modern Stained Mahogany Writing Desk by Gio Ponti for SchirolliBy Gio PontiLocated in Brooklyn, NYDiminutive Italian student desk in stained mahogany designed by Gio Ponti for Schirolli, ca. 1950s, Italy. Sculptural form with angular leg details, presenting a sharp profile. There are three drawers and an additional open storage section created by the space between the top drawer and surface apron. Surface is a gray laminate, which can appear light blue depending on the light. Moderate wear present (scuffs to the laminate along with some scratches and old fills/repairs to the front and back concealing minor veneer losses and screw/drill holes). Drawers slide smoothly, and desk presents well. Lock is branded "Schirolli Mantova...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Vintage Brass and Mosaic Coffee Table Attributed to Ed Wormley for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Brooklyn, NYCoffee table composed of an inset mosaic of Murano glass tiles framed by solid brass trim and base (ca. 1950s, USA). The brass (originally tarnished from decades of use) has been ha...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Gio Ponti for BNL Walnut and Brass Writing Table / DeskBy Gio PontiLocated in Brooklyn, NYIconic writing table designed in the 1940s by Gio Ponti for Schirolli to furnish BNL (Banca Nazionale del Lavoro) offices across Italy. This early 1950s model was acquired directly f...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Mahogany Writing Desk by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Sagaponack, NYAn octagonal mahogany writing desk designed by Edward Wormley with a single drawer. Made by Dunbar in the USA, circa 1957.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsMahogany, Walnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Wooden Vanity Cabinet / Dressing TableBy Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYAmerican mid-century wooden dressing table / vanity cabinet with two sections of drawers on either side of a knee hole opening. (EDWARD WORMLEY F...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Vanities
MaterialsWood
- Table and Stool by Edward WormleyBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Sagaponack, NYAn ebonized and polished dark mahogany telephone cabinet or vanity table having a storage drawer and an innovative fold-out bench.Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Vanities
MaterialsMahogany
- 1950s Demilune Vanity or Desk by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Sagaponack, NYA solid wood double pedestal desk or vanity with demilune curve to accommodate seating and vertically stacked dowel drawer pulls.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsWood
- Writing Desk By Edward Wormley For DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in St.Petersburg, FLBeautiful and rare walnut desk designed by Edward Wormley, manufactured by Dunbar ca' 1950's. Single drawer, dark walnut original finish, with nice graining. Edges are raised to give...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- Vanity Table by Edward WormleyBy Edward WormleyLocated in Sagaponack, NYA cherry dressing table or vanity, with a beautifully bevelled drawer, Lucite pull and gallery edges, over double-forked base with chromed suppor...Category
Vintage 1960s American Scandinavian Modern Vanities
MaterialsSteel