Edward Wormley for Dunbar Partners Desk with Bookshelf in Ebony with Red Leather
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley for Dunbar Partners Desk with Bookshelf in Ebony with Red Leather
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 30.13 in (76.54 cm)Width: 57.25 in (145.42 cm)Depth: 30.25 in (76.84 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use. Original lightly restored finish.
- Seller Location:St. Louis, MO
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU820221620412
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.
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Desk and ReturnBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated 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 Wormley for Dunbar Desk with Drop Leaves and File Cabinet in Dark FinishBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOUncommon Mid-Century Modern Edward Wormley model no.301-A designed compact desk for Dunbar, with two drop leaf extensions and model no.302-A pedestal file cabinet on wheels. Desk has...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsBrass
- 1940s Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar Mid-Century Mahogany Bookshelf End TableBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOFrom the 1940s Dunbar Enduring Modern catalog is model # 2193, a single large end table with lower tier bookshelf by Edward J. Wormley. Rounded legs, has divider in center to hold bo...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar SideboardBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOEdward Wormley for Dunbar for modern 1940s bleached mahogany sideboard, center stepped out, inset oval drawer pulls, center interior with drawers and space to store table pads, end cabinet doors hinged on sides and have curved wood door shelves, on leather plinth base. Original key. To be refinished, custom colors options available. Dunbar quality...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Sideboards
MaterialsLeather, Mahogany
- Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar Cabinet with Asian HardwareBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOMid-Century Modern Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar cabinet with brass Asian hardware. All original dark had rubbed finish on ribbon mahogany, top will be polished and touched up prior t...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsBrass
- Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar Club ChairBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated 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
- Partners Desk by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated 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 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
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Desk and Chair in Matching LeatherBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXAn elegant and early design by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Desk model 4725 in mahogany with original green leather and matching swiveling stool.Category
Vintage 1940s Desks
MaterialsLeather, Mahogany
- Cabinet 6026 by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXBeautiful and very elegant cabinet model # 6026 designed by Edward Wormely for Dunbar. This cabinet was purchased for the Neptune Gift Shop in New Jersey in 1963 and is constructed o...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Bookcases
MaterialsBrass
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar MCM Model 452 Rosewood Tambour Door Executive DeskBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Countryside, ILEdward Wormley for Dunbar mid century Model 452 Rosewood Tambour door executive desk This desk measures: 74.5 wide x 28 deep x 35 high, with a chair clearance of 24 inches All ...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsBrass
- 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
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Kaleidoscopic Upholstery Makes This Edward Wormley Chair a Showstopper
What at first glance seems an unusual choice jibes perfectly with the designer's aesthetic.
Jackie Kennedy and Sister Parish Placed This Tea Table in the White House
The former First Lady kept the Victorian antique, with an elegant chinoiserie design, for the rest of her life.