Edward Wormley for Dunbar Desk
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley for Dunbar Desk
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 84.5 in (214.63 cm)Depth: 38.5 in (97.79 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Beverly Hills, CA
- Reference Number:Seller: 17011stDibs: LU80806084593
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.
- Jacques Adnet DeskBy Jacques AdnetLocated in Beverly Hills, CARare and important desk by Jacques Adnet wrapped in black leather with signature saddle stitching and 3 drawers. Curved legs wrapped in leather with b...Category
Vintage 1950s French Desks
MaterialsLeather, Acrylic, Walnut
$25,000 Sale Price28% Off - Jacques Adnet Table/DeskBy Jacques AdnetLocated in Beverly Hills, CAWonderful Jacques Adnet table which could also be used as a desk. Beautiful slatted wood top and signature caramel leather legs with contrast stitch detail New leather beautifully...Category
Vintage 1940s French Center Tables
MaterialsLeather, Oak
$42,000 - Charles Dudouyt Desk & ChairBy Charles DudouytLocated in Beverly Hills, CAIncredible Charles Dudouyt desk and chair with signature corkscrew carved legs, checkerboard wood top and carved circular detailed sides. Great sma...Category
Vintage 1940s French Desks
MaterialsOak
$10,500 - Gio Ponti Attributed DeskBy Gio PontiLocated in Beverly Hills, CARare Gio Ponti attributed desk - Italy, 1950s Gorgeous from every angle with floating top and drawers and angular scissor legs Constructed of oak wood and original black top In...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Desks
MaterialsOak, Laminate
$24,500 - 1950s Italian Writing DeskBy Gio PontiLocated in Beverly Hills, CA1950s Italian writing desk in the manner of Gio Ponti Wonderfully constructed of beechwood with original kelly green laminate top. Great hardware...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Desks
MaterialsLaminate, Beech
$6,000 Sale Price36% Off - Jacques Adnet TableBy Jacques AdnetLocated in Beverly Hills, CAWonderful Jacques Adnet table which could also be used as a desk. Beautiful slatted oak wood top and signature caramel leather legs with contrast stitch detail New leather beautif...Category
Vintage 1940s French Center Tables
MaterialsLeather, Oak
$22,000 Sale Price47% Off
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar DeskBy Edward WormleyLocated in St.Petersburg, FLA great Edward Wormley Dunbar desk with extension, bentwood handles and rear storage compartment.Category
Vintage 1940s American Desks
MaterialsMahogany
- Partners Desk by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Dallas, TXA mahogany partners desk with original leather top and base and brass hardware. Designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s Desks
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Desk and ReturnBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St. Louis, MO1960s Edward Wormley desk and ensuite return, label, currently being refinished, desk. Measures: 72 W x 36.5 D x 29 H. Return 60 W x 30.5 D x 29 H.Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsWood
$5,800 / set - Edward J Wormley for Dunbar Wooden Wedge Top Pedestal DeskBy Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYAmerican mid-century wooden pedestal desk with four drawers with wooden drawer pulls, a shelf on the right-hand side below the tabletop, and a cabinet to the left with an extendable writing surface concealed within. (EDWARD J WORMLEY FOR DUNBAR...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsWood
- Rosewood Roll Top Desk by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA rosewood tambour roll top desk with brass feet and leather trim. Designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s Desks
- Edward J Wormley for Dunbar Wood and Brass Tube Writing DeskBy Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYAmerican mid-century writing desk with a rectangular top with a wooden frame and deep brown laminate desktop with three drawers with circular brass drawer pulls, resting on a brass t...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsMetal, Brass