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

About
Details
- CreatorEdward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- DimensionsHeight: 11.75 in. (29.85 cm)Width: 46.75 in. (118.75 cm)Depth: 18.75 in. (47.63 cm)
- StyleMid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques
- Place of Origin
- Period
- Date of Manufacturecirca 1950s
- ConditionRefinished. Repaired: one leg has been repaired. Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller LocationLos Angeles, CA
- Reference Number1stDibs: LU1374223137382
Shipping & Returns
- ShippingShips From: Los Angeles, CA
- Return Policy
A return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
About the Designer
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.
- Burl Elm Pentagonal Coffee Table by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAPentagonal coffee table designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1970. Burl elm wood table top with walnut trim and a walnut base.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBurl, Walnut
- Trapezoid Top Wormley for Dunbar Coffee TableBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CASculptural trapezoid coffee table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Table Bench with Brass Magazine DisplayBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CADunbar coffee table or bench (Model 5933a) with built-in brass rods for suspending magazines. One other option is to recess a glass top over the rods to use as table surface. Signed ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Interlocking TablesBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAA rare set of nesting tables designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. This set can be arranged together or separately in multiple configurations. On display in our Los Angeles Arts D...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Console Tables
MaterialsFormica, Ash
- Edward Wormley for Drexel Precedent Collection Coffee TableBy Drexel, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAAn early, modernist Edward Wormley for Drexel coffee table in a trapezoid shape made for the Precedent Collection.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWood
- Early Edward Wormley for Dunbar Step End TableBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAThree-tiered step up side table designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1950. This table is in wonderful condition and can be used as an end table or nightstand. Fully marked.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWalnut
You May Also Like
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Teak
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 Benches
Walnut
Early 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Walnut
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Sofa Tables
Stone, Brass
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Walnut
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mahogany
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Benches
Mahogany
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Benches
Recently Viewed
View MoreThe 1stDibs Promise
Learn MoreExpertly Vetted Sellers
Confidence at Checkout
Price-Match Guarantee
Exceptional Support
Buyer Protection
Trusted Global Delivery