Swivel Vanity Chair By Edward Wormley For Dunbar

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.

There are few pieces of furniture as functional and enjoyable as an antique or vintage swivel chair.

Ideal for home offices and cozy living rooms alike, these lovable chairs came to life thanks to none other than Thomas Jefferson. Indeed, the third president of the United States would’ve made a great interior designer, and the swivel chair that he designed, a Windsor chair that moved on window-sash parts reconfigured as rollers, supported him while he prepared the Declaration of Independence.

When choosing the right swivel chair for your space, consider functionality: If you’re going for comfort and seeking out the best swivel chairs for your living room, opt for a plush, enveloping Milo Baughman swivel chair or the equally welcoming seats designed by Vladimir Kagan or Edward Wormley. Alternatively, if your work-from-home space is limited and thoughts of the long day ahead are driving your purchase, a minimalist Industrial-style swivel chair or a brushed aluminum model from the likes of Emeco — home of the iconic Navy chair — may be your best bet.

From sculptural mid-century modern swivel chairs that will lend a bit of “pop” to your living space to practical contemporary seating, find a collection of antique, new and vintage swivel chairs on 1stDibs today.