Ed Wormley for Dunbar Chest with Seven Graduated Drawers
View Similar Items
Ed Wormley for Dunbar Chest with Seven Graduated Drawers
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 43 in (109.22 cm)Width: 34 in (86.36 cm)Depth: 21 in (53.34 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. In exceptional vintage condition. The top has two very small areas with some fine scratching that does not break the stain - each is about four or five strokes a few inches long. Two minor buckles in the leather wrapping the base.
- Seller Location:Geneva, IL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU293138284553
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.
- Chest of Drawers by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CABeautiful chest of drawers designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. The cabinet 5 drawers, the top drawer comes with separations for different garments. The piece is in good vintage condition and it retains the original Dunbar tag. Measurements: 36 inches wide x 18 inches deep...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsWood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Small Louvered Chest of DrawersBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St.Petersburg, FLSmall chest of drawers, consisting of louvered walnut fronts and mahogany case. Five drawers total with the top being velvet lined to store various pieces if jewelry. Second drawer c...Category
Vintage 1950s North American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of D...
MaterialsWalnut
- Classic Edward Wormley for Dunbar Chest of Drawers/ DresserBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St.Petersburg, FLStunning walnut Dunbar chest designed by Edward Wormley. Four large scale drawers. Legs feature Japanese style- studio/ craftsman details. Leather wrapped handles (dark brown) show s...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsLeather, Walnut
- Pair of Edward Wormley for Dunbar Chest of Drawers, NightstandsBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Dallas, TXBeautifully crafted chest of drawers by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. These are mahogany and feature 5 drawers, 2 smaller than the other three. Make great n...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsMahogany
- 1950s Bleached Mahogany Chest of Drawers by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Sagaponack, NYAn elegant and well proportioned eight (8) drawer bleached mahogany cabinet having distinctive laminated end pulls, on tapered dowel legs.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Furniture Co. Walnut Low Chest of DrawersBy Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYAmerican mid-century walnut low chest of drawers with three sets of four drawers, one set wider and central, flanked on either side by two narrower sets of drawers. (EDWARD WORMLEY F...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsWood, Walnut