- Want more images or videos?Request additional images or videos from the seller
Coffee Table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar

About
Details
- CreatorEdward Wormley (Designer)
- DimensionsHeight: 14 in. (35.56 cm)Width: 34 in. (86.36 cm)Depth: 18 in. (45.72 cm)
- Materials and Techniques
- Place of Origin
- Period
- Date of Manufacture1940s
- Condition
- Seller LocationNew York, NY
- Reference Number
Shipping & Returns
- ShippingRates vary by destination and complexity. We recommend this shipping type based on item size, type and fragility.Ships From: New York, NY
- Return Policy
This item cannot be returned.
About Edward Wormley (Designer)
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 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 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.
- By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYCoffee table No. 6302G with faceted olive burl pedestal base and thick glass top by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, A...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass, Burl
- By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYParsons style side table in walnut by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American, 1960s (Dunbar tag and label on bottom).Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYRound dining table in Brazilian rosewood designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American, 1960s (Dunbar tag on b...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsRosewood
- By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYClean-line end table in teak by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American, 1950s. (Dunbar metal tag on bottom).Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsTeak
- By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYBeautiful 2-tier round side table model 4751 in mahogany by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American 1947. A Classic ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYRare pair of 3-tier end tables, model 4424, in mahogany by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American, 1944 (original l...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMahogany
You May Also Like
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Walnut
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mahogany, Walnut
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mahogany, Lacquer
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Sofa Tables
Stone, Brass
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mahogany, Cork
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Walnut, Glass
The 1stDibs Promise
Learn MoreExpertly Vetted Sellers
Confidence at Checkout
Price-Match Guarantee
Exceptional Support
Buyer Protection
Insured Global Delivery