Edward Wormley for Dunbar Floor Lamp
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Maker)
- Dimensions:Height: 52 in (132.08 cm)Diameter: 25 in (63.5 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Replacements made: New shade. Rewired: New wiring. Wear consistent with age and use. Patina to brass as seen in pictures. Light wear to the wood in the forms of small/ faint scratches or minor indentations. Stable hairline split in the stem of wood below the table.
- Seller Location:St.Petersburg, FL
- 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: West Berlin, NJ
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Large Tulip Lamp TableBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St.Petersburg, FLAn elegant and unusual lamp table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Ash pedestal, chrome petals, and rosewood feet. Very good vintage condition with exceptionally minimal wear. Inconsi...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsChrome
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Club ChairsBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St.Petersburg, FLStunning pair of oak framed chairs by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, referred to as “Edward’s Chair”. New fabric and great original finish. Chairs...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Oak
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar 12-Drawer DresserBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St.Petersburg, FLStunning model 5272A by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Bleached mahogany dresser consists of 12 drawers with drawer pulls built out of the sides of the drawers..Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Toad Stool TablesBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St.Petersburg, FLGorgeous pair of rare "Toad Stool Tables" designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1960's. In keeping with his design philosophy these tables encompass traditional and modernist ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Dining Chairs, Set of 8By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St.Petersburg, FLA set of 8 rare dining chairs designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. This set features two arm or "Captain's" chairs along with 6 side chairs. Great form with a gentle curved back an...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Pedestal Table/ Bar with KeyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St.Petersburg, FLCustom Dunbar table designed by Edward Wormley. Featuring a faceted front with locking door. Inside reveals an adjustable height shelf, and the door has a storage cubby, ideal for a ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dry Bars
MaterialsBurl
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Floor Lamp with Incorporated Table 1954 (Signed)By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYFloor lamp model 5410 with incorporated table in walnut with book-matched Carpathian elm and solid brass base by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, 1954 (signed “Dunbar Berne Indiana” on lab...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsBrass
- Dunbar Snack Table Floor Lamp, Model 4856, Designed by Edward WormleyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Hanover, MARare Dunbar floor lamp/snack table combo, Model 4856, designed by Edward Wormley circa 1948. Original Dunbar tag on underside. Slender tapered walnut leg and lamp stem. Round top, 25...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Illuminated Globe Lamp attributed to Edward Wormley DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Chicago, ILGlobe Lamp attributed to Edward Wormley for Dunbar. These are wired and illuminate.Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Globes
MaterialsWood
- Rare Edward Wormley Lamp Table by DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Highland, INThis table lamp by Edward Wormley is an exceedingly rare variation on the model 5410 by Dunbar. The model 5410 was produced with a couple base variations, but this example has severa...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsBrass
- Mahogany and Nickeled Brass Floor Lamp for HansenBy Hansen, Edward WormleyLocated in Brooklyn, NYTapered, eight-sided solid mahogany stem on octagonal nickeled base, with nickeled brass hardware at the top. Stamped "Hansen NY" underneath, and with Hansen twist three-way switch.Category
Vintage 1950s Floor Lamps
MaterialsMahogany
- Ostuni Floor Lamp for OluceBy Giuseppe OstuniLocated in Sag Harbor, NYVintage Italian brass adjustable floor lamp designed by Giuseppe Ostuni and manufactured by Oluce. Has a brass tripod base and adj...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsBrass