Dunbar Swivel Lounge Chair
View Similar Items
Dunbar Swivel Lounge Chair
About the Item
- Creator:Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer),Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 28.5 in (72.39 cm)Width: 26 in (66.04 cm)Depth: 26 in (66.04 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:1950s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Very good condition. This piece is currently being refinished and reupholstered and can be reupholstered in your fabric and refinished in your choice of color. The price noted INCLUDES reupholstery in your fabric and refinishing in your choice of col.
- Seller Location:Atlanta, GA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU871814435731
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.
- Danish Modern Swivel Lounge Chairs by Fabricius and KastholmBy Alfred Kill International, Jørgen Kastholm & Preben FabriciusLocated in Atlanta, GAPair of Danish Modern Swivel lounge chairs, designed by Preben Fabricius and Jorgen Kastholm, Denmark, circa 1960s. They have been re...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Pair of Curvaceous Tufted Lounge Chairs attributed to DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Atlanta, GAPair of Curvaceous Mid Century Tufted Lounge Chairs, attributed to Edward Wormley for Dunbar, unsigned, American, circa 1950s. These ch...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Wood
- Tall Curvaceous Antler Back Lounge Chair Refinished Reupholstered in Your FabricBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Atlanta, GATall Curvaceous Antler Back Lounge chair, attributed to Edward Wormley for Dunbar, unsigned, American, circa 1950s. This chair is currently being refinished and reupholstered and can...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Wood
- Dunbar Dining ChairsBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Atlanta, GASet of six dining chairs, designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American, circa 1950s. Elegant modern form with a subtle Asian influence to the design. The set consists of two armch...Category
Vintage 1950s North American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsMahogany, Upholstery, Wood
$4,500 / set - Franco Albini Lounge ChairBy Franco AlbiniLocated in Atlanta, GAFranco Albini "Fiorenza" lounge chair, Italy, circa 1990s. This chair was originally designed by Albini in the 1950s. This example is an authorized re-edition made by Arflex, circa 1...Category
1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Wood
- Jens Risom Lounge ChairsBy Jens RisomLocated in Atlanta, GAClean lined lounge chairs, designed by Jens Risom, American, circa 1960s. Risom's designs always give a nod to Danish modern design, and these chairs are no exception. They have clea...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut
$5,500 / set
- Edward Wormley Dunbar Swivel Lounge ChairBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Chicago, ILEdward Wormley dunbar swivel lounge chair.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery
- Leather Swivel Lounge Chairs Designed by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Dallas, TXAdd some playful elegance to your space with these swiveling Dunbar chairs designed by Edward Wormley, circa 1960's. His signature style, defined by clean lines and architectural sim...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Swivel Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Wood
- Edward Wormley Swivel Lounge Chair and Ottoman for Dunbar, 1960By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Hamburg, PAA comfortable and stylish Edward Wormley swivel lounge chair and ottoman for Dunbar, 1960. The chair and the ottoman have tripod swivel br...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Swivel Chairs
MaterialsBronze
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Swivel Chair, C. 1950sBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Westport, CTA swivel lounge chair designed by the iconic Edward Wormely for Dunbar Furniture, circa 1950-1959. Completely restored, fitted with new high-grade hand cut foam with all insides full...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Swivel Chairs
MaterialsVelvet, Mahogany
- Early Pair of Leather Swivel Chairs by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA very rare and early pair of swiveling club chairs by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1940's. These clean-lined chairs elevate comfortable lounging to new heights of sophistication...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Swivel Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Wood
- Swivel Chair by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXAn early swivel chair designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar with oak base and plush mohair upholstery.Category
Vintage 1950s Swivel Chairs
MaterialsMohair, Oak