Set of Four Dunbar Side Chairs
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 34 in (86.36 cm)Width: 21 in (53.34 cm)Depth: 22 in (55.88 cm)Seat Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Wood is in good condition. Need reupholstery.
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU800219552772
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 PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Pair Edward Wormley for Dunbar Model 5480 ChairsBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Brooklyn, NYAn iconic Edward Wormley design, the ‘A-Frame' chair is a wonderful example of Wormley’s expertise in mixing materials into sophisticated, architectural forms. Employing dark stain...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsLeather, Bentwood
- PP 68 Final Chair by Hans Wegner, with Leather SeatBy Hans J. Wegner, PP MøblerLocated in Brooklyn, NYPP68 elbow chair, designed by Hans J. Wegner for PP Møbler, Denmark 1987. Sculpturally carved oak with original cognac saddle leather seat. Maker’s stamp on un...Category
Early 2000s Danish Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Oak
- Set of Four Chairs by Ejvind A. Johansson for FDB MoblerBy Ejvind A. JohanssonLocated in Brooklyn, NYFour ebonized wood side chairs with bentwood cutout back. Stamped to underside.Category
Vintage 1950s Side Chairs
MaterialsWood
- Dunbar Lounge ChairBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NYHigh back lounge chair with crisply tailored angled seat on sculpted walnut legs, circa 1950s. Unsigned but attributed to Dunbar Furniture.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsWalnut
- Set of 5 Early Hans Wegner Round ChairsBy Hans J. WegnerLocated in Brooklyn, NYClassic set of JH-501 teak arm chairs with cane seats. This is an especially beautiiful and early set. The color of the wood and cane on the backs has aged so wonderfully that we hav...Category
Vintage 1940s Danish Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsCane, Teak
- Set of Four Rare Dining Chairs by Martin Eisler and Carlo Hauner for FormaBy Forma Brazil, Carlo Hauner and Martin EislerLocated in Brooklyn, NYBrazil, circa 1956, delicately carved hardwood frame with hand caned seat. Remnant early Forma Moveis S/A label and Brazilian import stickers to underside.Category
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsCane, Bubinga
- 1950s Set of Four Model 675 Dining Chairs by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Sagaponack, NYA set of dining chairs with exposed walnut frames supporting floating laminated seats and sculptural back rests, both covered in vintage upholstery. Designed in 1953 as a component o...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut
- Set of Four Side Chairs in Ash, Model 6738, by Roger Sprunger for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Roger SprungerLocated in Dorchester, MADesigned in 1967 by Roger Sprunger for Dunbar, these handsome side chairs, model 6738, have frames of ash whose dark stain enhances the grain of the wood. The tapering curved rail of...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsAsh
- Roger Sprunger for Dunbar Side ChairsBy Dunbar Furniture, Roger SprungerLocated in St.Petersburg, FLWonderful set of four side chairs designed by Roger Sprunger for Dunbar in a dark stained ash.Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsAsh
- Set of Four Modernist Walnut Dining Chairs by LaneBy Lane Furniture, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Buffalo, NYSet of four modernist walnut dining chairs by Lane Classic, simple elegant styling, solid walnut frames, Sturdy, tight joints, extremely comfortable. Hand delivery avail to New York ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsNaugahyde, Walnut
- Rare Pair Dunbar Dining Chairs in Original Black Leather, Mahogany Frames, SignedBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Kansas City, MOVery rare and desirable high back Dunbar dining chairs designed by Edward Wormley. Both chairs are completely original. The original black leather has no tears, scuffs, or repairs and show slight stretching on the seats. The mahogany frames show light signs of use in the form of light scratches and nicks, but no distractions. These are excellent examples of this important design, clearly well cared for over the years. Acquired from the original owner. Signed with the gold Dunbar metal...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsBrass
- Set of Four Mid-century Side Chairs, France, C. 1960Located in New York, NYSet of four unusual mid-century side chairs in solid white oak.Category
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsOak