Edward J Wormley For Dunbar

Dunbar Janus

Edward Wormley High Back Chair

Dunbar Side Tier Table

Dunbar Office Furniture By Wormley

American Mid Century Armchair

Edward Wormley A Frame Chair

Materials

Mahogany, Rosewood

Classic Pair of Mid-Century Modern Lorelei Club Chairs by Dunbar

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H 28.5 in W 28.5 in D 32.25 in

Classic Pair of Mid-Century Modern Lorelei Club Chairs by Dunbar

By Dunbar Furniture, Edward Wormley

Located in Highwood, IL

Timeless, quality mid-century furniture is all the rage, and these Lorelei club chairs by Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar give us a better understanding as to why.

Vintage 1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Sofas

Materials

Fabric, Wood

Edward Wormly Style Lounge or Side Chairs in Orange Hermes Upholstery, Pair

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H 42 in W 25 in D 23 in

Edward Wormly Style Lounge or Side Chairs in Orange Hermes Upholstery, Pair

By Edward Wormley

Located in Plainview, NY

The MCM orange Hermes chairs will certainly add color end elevate the style of any interior design. About Edward Wormly : Edward J Wormley ( 1907- 1995) was an American designe...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs

Materials

Upholstery, Wood

Dunbar Sofa by Jane J. Graham

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H 31.5 in W 83.5 in D 32 in

Dunbar Sofa by Jane J. Graham

Located in Chicago, IL

This is an Edward Wormley designed sofa that Graham spec'd with steel legs for a custom interior.

Category

20th Century American Sofas

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$795 / item

H 10 in Dm 12 in

Sasco Semi-Flush Mount Brass Light Fixture, Custom Finishes

Located in Pound Ridge, NY

The Sasco is a versatile custom-made solid brass and glass globe light fixture, which can be mounted on the ceiling or wall. Shown here in our factory brass, an uneven unfinished br...

Category

2010s American Flush Mount

Materials

Brass

1960's Pair of Vintage Chests by Edward Wormley for Dunbar

$2,259 / set

H 27 in W 30 in D 30 in

1960's Pair of Vintage Chests by Edward Wormley for Dunbar

By Dunbar Furniture, Edward Wormley

Located in London, GB

A magnificent pair of vintage chests, these were made in the USA by Dunbar furniture, they were designed by Edward Wormley. Edward Wormley was one of the leading pioneers of mid-cen...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers

Materials

Wood

$2,875

H 29.5 in W 25 in D 14.75 in

Qing Dynasty 19th Century Red Lacquer Cabinet with Doors and Drawers

Located in Yonkers, NY

A small Chinese Qing Dynasty period red lacquer side cabinet from the 19th century, with double doors, two drawers and brass hardware. Created in China during the Qing Dynasty in the...

Category

Antique 19th Century Chinese Qing Cabinets

Materials

Brass

Three-Drawer Cherry and Brass Asian Style Chest by Baker Furniture Company

$2,200

H 31 in W 38 in D 18 in

Three-Drawer Cherry and Brass Asian Style Chest by Baker Furniture Company

By Baker Furniture Company

Located in Toledo, OH

Three drawer Asian style cherry chest by Baker Furniture Company. T-drawers have dovetail construction with brass hardware. Minor wear to the top. 38" wide x 31" tall x 18" deep.

Category

20th Century North American Campaign Dressers

Materials

Cherry

Danish Modern Teak Executive Desk with Bookcase, 1960s

$3,875

H 28.5 in W 53 in D 28.75 in

Danish Modern Teak Executive Desk with Bookcase, 1960s

Located in North Hollywood, CA

This Danish modern teak executive desk embodies the thoughtful craftsmanship and functionality that made Scandinavian furniture of the 1960s so enduring. Beautifully constructed in D...

Category

Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables

Materials

Brass

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Edward J Wormley For Dunbar For Sale on 1stDibs

With a vast inventory of beautiful furniture at 1stDibs, we’ve got just the edward j wormley for dunbar you’re looking for. A edward j wormley for dunbar — often made from wood, mahogany and fabric — can elevate any home. If you’re shopping for a edward j wormley for dunbar, we have 4332 options in-stock, while there are 1 modern editions to choose from as well. You’ve searched high and low for the perfect edward j wormley for dunbar — we have versions that date back to the 18th Century alongside those produced as recently as the 21st Century are available. Each edward j wormley for dunbar bearing Mid-Century Modern, Modern or Hollywood Regency hallmarks is very popular. Edward Wormley, Dunbar and Gertrud and Otto Natzler each produced at least one beautiful edward j wormley for dunbar that is worth considering.

How Much is a Edward J Wormley For Dunbar?

A edward j wormley for dunbar can differ in price owing to various characteristics — the average selling price 1stDibs is $5,180, while the lowest priced sells for $20 and the highest can go for as much as $69,500.

Edward Wormley for sale on 1stDibs

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.

A Close Look at Mid-century Modern Furniture

Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.

ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

Emerged during the mid-20th century
Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
A heyday of innovation in postwar America
Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe

CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines
A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors
Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood
Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery
Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors
Promotion of functionality

MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

Charles and Ray Eames
Eero Saarinen
Milo Baughman
Florence Knoll
Harry Bertoia
Isamu Noguchi
George Nelson
Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa

ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS

VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.

Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.

Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.

Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.

The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by celebrated manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.

As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.

Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.

Generations turn over, and mid-century modern remains arguably the most popular style going. As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.