Edward Wormley for Dunbar Model 5706 Lounge Club Chair, 1950s
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley for Dunbar Model 5706 Lounge Club Chair, 1950s
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 30 in (76.2 cm)Width: 30.25 in (76.84 cm)Depth: 31 in (78.74 cm)Seat Height: 18.75 in (47.63 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1957
- Condition:Very good vintage condition with light wear. Ready to be used immediately.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1330217488302
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.
- Mosaic Tile Coffee Table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1950s, SignedBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis spectacular deep brown walnut coffee table was designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1950s, and features Mid-Century Modern flared legs and golden mosaic tile inlay wrapping all four sides and on the table top. Signed underneath with the Dunbar Berne Indiana brass label. This mosaic tile inlay coffee table...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut, Glass
$3,600 Sale Price43% Off - 'Bounty' Leather Club Chair by L. Davanzati for The Pace Collection, 1980sBy Lorenzo Forges Davanzati, Elam, Pace CollectionLocated in Los Angeles, CAA lovely example of the 'Bounty' series club chair by The Pace Collection in the early 1980s, this deep seated channel-tufted leather lounge chair was designed by L. Davantazi produced by Elam and retailed by The Pace Collection. Perfect for a cigar, whiskey or wine lounge or any space that can use something a bit modern yet still refined and classy. *Note, we have the matching loveseat / settee and three-seat sofa in another listing. Last two photos show the entire set. See our other listings or contact us for more details if you wish to create a living room or office / hotel lobby set. This channel-tufted leather club chair retains its original supple leather upholstery in an intriguing deep burgundy-brown color, almost like dark-cognac with beautiful lightly aged leather patina. The sumptuous seats are encased in a dark colored lacquer, providing an attractive modern contrast with the rich and elegant leather. This lounge chair has casters for ease of relocation according to occasion and mood or to better suit a view. The back is finished with tufted leather making this easy chair look incredible when floating in a room with the back exposed. Curved Art Deco styled arms lend 1980s juxtaposition and character to any room. Similar in style to the Saratoga chair...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Lacquer
$2,100 Sale Price38% Off - Mario Bellini for Cassina 'Cab 414' Leather Lounge Chair, Signed, circa 1980sBy Cassina, Mario BelliniLocated in Los Angeles, CAA beautiful black leather Mario Bellini Cab lounge chair, Model #414, signed Cassina, designed in the 1970s. These fine examples of the cab line by Mario Bellini for Cassina are classic staples for luxury interior designers and collectors alike, these lounge variations of the design are larger and deeper than the similar dining armchair, and have the addition of the seat cushion. Signed underneath with Cassina embossing to the leather. Mario Bellini described the 1970s bestselling design for the Cab collection as “This was a new kind of chair, constructed totally out of leather, much cloned since then.” and is now a signature piece in Cassina’s Contemporanei collection. Cab was the first-ever chair to feature a free-standing leather structure, inspired by how our skin fits over our skeleton. The upholstery consists of sixteen pieces of saddle leather. They then undergo fourteen discrete procedures, again by hand. The pieces are sewn together only when their outer edges have been trimmed to ensure a perfect fit. Once assembled, the cover is attached to the chair’s steel skeleton and held in place by means of a zipper fastening as in a bespoke tailored...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
$3,400 Sale Price22% Off - 'President' Fiberglass Lounge Chairs by Steen Ostergaard for Cado, 1968, SignedBy Cado, Steen OstergaardLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis beautiful pair of rare 'President' Lounge chairs, Model #265 by Steen Ostergaard for Cado, Denmark (each chair signed with Cado embossed logo on frame), was designed in 1968 and produced at Krauss Maffei, Munich, Germany for a short time in limited quantities. For collectors of 1960s and 1970s Space Age, this is a sought-after and coveted design to have. Produced in fiberglass reinforced poly-amide nylon and is anti-static, full depth colored, and can not delaminate, and were cast in the largest injection mold in the world at the time. The head / neck rest is adjustable via the two dials on the back and can be raised or lowered to your desired setting. The President Lounge, which was part of the A-Line series, was prominently featured in many books, magazines and movies such as 'Star Trek' where it appears in Captain Kirk's 23rd century San Francisco apartment. ABOUT THE DESIGNER: Educated Cabinetmaker and Imagery Carver – Bronze Medal 1957. Graduated from the SCHOOL of ARTS & CRAFTS, Copenhagen, Denmark 1960, with certificate – Highest Marks. Officer in the Royal Danish Army 1960-1962. ACTIVITIES: Own Design offices in Denmark, respectively England, Germany and France. Main activities – Furniture design – Industrial Design – Professional product development. Designer and inventor of worlds first chair injection moulded in one piece. Developer and designer of the first Action Recliner furniture...Category
Vintage 1960s German Space Age Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Fiberglass
$6,200 Sale Price / set35% Off - Cork Bar Cart by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, 1960s, SignedBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis classic Edward Wormley for Dunbar bar cart, circa 1960s, features a cork top with brass trim and the two lower platforms also w...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
MaterialsWood, Cork
$2,700 Sale Price25% Off - Cognac Leather Lounge Chairs by Mathias Hoffmann for De Sede, 1980s, SignedBy Mathias Hoffmann, De SedeLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis incredible pair of Matthias Hoffman for De Sede, Switzerland, model DS-264 lounge chairs, circa 1980s, features gorgeous cognac color leather and aluminum legs. Signed on underside with branded De Sede fabric. *Priced for the pair, contact us if you wish to purchase a single chair only. Classic Post-Modern design, comfortable chairs with the quality construction that 1980s De Sede was known for, encapsulating the term 'they don't make them like they used to' - these chairs have lasted decades and can continue for decades longer. Try finding a set of lounge chairs from today's production that can last the test of time. These Matthias Hoffman for De Sede easy chairs...Category
Vintage 1980s Swiss Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather
$3,600 Sale Price / set25% Off
- Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar Club ChairBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated 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 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 Wormley Dunbar Yellow Upholstered Cube Club ChairsBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Chicago, ILA really great matched set of wormley cube chairs in all original upholstery. Signed Dunbar on upholstery as shown. Upholstrey shows some wear and fading, but I believe good to use ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery
- 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