Edward Wormley for Dunbar Leather High Back Lounge Chair & Ottoman Model No. 400
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley for Dunbar Leather High Back Lounge Chair & Ottoman Model No. 400
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 39 in (99.06 cm)Width: 25.5 in (64.77 cm)Depth: 35 in (88.9 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960-1969
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Southampton, NJ
- Reference Number:Seller: Jonathan1stDibs: LU1566210131433
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 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.
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.
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Janus Collection Lounge ChairBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Southampton, NJJanus Collection lounge chair by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Ebonized sculpted walnut arms and legs with an exposed frame, and red upholstery with a button tufted back and curved seat...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut
- 1950's Edward Wormley Dunbar Lounge ChairBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Southampton, NJ1950s armchair designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar fully restored with new tribal influenced and textured cotton upholstery. The original signed Dunbar decking has been carefully m...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsCotton, Walnut
$3,840 Sale Price20% Off - 1950s Walnut Window Bench Attributed to Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Southampton, NJA solid walnut Mid-Century Modern window bench or settee attributed to Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Lithe line design constructed of fully restored walnut frame with new fine scale can...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Settees
MaterialsUpholstery, Cane, Walnut
- Edward Wormley Pedestal Bar Cabinet in Olive Burl Model 6302dBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Southampton, NJFaceted Pedestal Cabinet/ Dry Bar model 6302D by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, introduced in 1963, in natural olive burl with hinged door and dark mahogany interior cabinet. Includes t...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
- Mid-Century Modern Milo Baughman Thayer Coggin Barrel Back Club Lounge ChairsBy Milo Baughman, Thayer CogginLocated in Southampton, NJScarcely seen Mid-Century Modern Milo Baughman Thayer Coggin barrel back walnut club lounge chairs upholstered in all original blue & white trellis brocade. Seat: 17" H.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsBrocade, Walnut
- Thomas Pheasant for McGuire Organic Modern Club Chair & OttomanBy McGuire, Thomas PheasantLocated in Southampton, NJAn impressive organic modern "Club Chair" with ottoman by Thomas Pheasant for McGuire. The long, lean silhouette & interesting textured deep Verdigris caste bronze and pole frame emu...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Organic Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsBronze
$3,640 Sale Price / set30% Off
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Brass Leg Lounge Chairs and OttomanBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St.Petersburg, FLA wonderful pair of chairs with accompanying ottoman by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Features a generous and comfortable seat, button back, and solid brass tapered legs. Rare to find s...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBrass
- Edward J. Wormley Lounge Chair and Ottoman circa 1950s for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOEdward J. Wormley lounge chair and ottoman for Dunbar circa 1950s on solid brass castors. The lounge chair has a trapezoid shape, wider in the front (27.5" W) and tapers to the back....Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Wing Lounge Chair Model 6016By Edward WormleyLocated in Middlesex, NJEdward Wormley for Dunbar wing lounge chair model 6016.Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Janus Collection Lounge Chairs, PairBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in South Bend, INAn exceptional pair of Janus Collection lounge chairs By Edward Wormley for Dunbar USA, 20th Century Ebonized sculpted walnut arms and legs with an exposed frame, and red up...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut
- Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar Club ChairBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOSingle Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar club chair with older re-upholstery on thick tapered legs. Unrestored, ready for new upholstery, legs show age, should be refinished. Email for up...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Tufted 'Party' Club Chair in Black LeatherBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Waalwijk, NLEdward Wormley for Dunbar, lounge chair model 'Party', leather, United States, 1960s. Rare black leather 'Party Chair' by American designer Edward Wormle...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsLeather