Edward Wormley Bracket Back Sofa
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley Bracket Back Sofa
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 28.5 in (72.39 cm)Width: 84 in (213.36 cm)Depth: 34 in (86.36 cm)Seat Height: 17 in (43.18 cm)
- Style:Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:Unknown
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU107783136472
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.
- Edward Wormley Bracket Back Sofa, DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Raleigh, NCClassic bracket back sofa by Edward Wormley produced by Dunbar. Newly upholstered in mohair velvet with new foam.Category
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsUpholstery, Hardwood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Bracket Back Sofa in MohairBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Dallas, TXBeautifully updated and restored. The iconic bracket back sofa by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. This has been reupholstered in a stunning high-quality mohair from "The Sign". This sofa ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsMohair, Mahogany
- SOLD 02/12/24 Edward Wormley for Dunbar Mid Century Walnut Bracket Back SofaBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Countryside, ILEdward Wormley for Dunbar Mid Century Walnut Bracket Back Sofa This sofa measures: 84.5 wide x 32 deep x 28 inches high, with a seat height of 16.5 and arm height of 22.5 inches Al...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Bracket Back Sofa in Dijon Colored MohairBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXBeautifully updated and restored. The iconic bracket back sofa by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. This has been reupholstered in a stunning high-quality mohair. Color is listed as "Dijon"...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsMohair, Mahogany
- Channel Back Sofa by Edward WormleyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in San Francisco, CAAn early channel back sofa with brass legs and covered in blue fabric by Edward Wormley. Model #4757 designed in 1947. The fabric is tired and should...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Sofas
MaterialsBrass
- 1950s Edward Wormley for Dunbar Bracket Back Sofa, Blush Velvet and mahoganyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Virginia Beach, VAA rare variation of the bracket back sofa by Edward Wormley for Dunbar Furniture company of Berne Indiana circa 1950s. This A-frame bracket is similar to the designs of Jens Risom, t...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsVelvet, Mahogany