Edward Wormley for Dunbar Flip-Top Dining Table
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley for Dunbar Flip-Top Dining Table
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 28.25 in (71.76 cm)Width: 32 in (81.28 cm)Depth: 36 in (91.44 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:Mid-20th Century
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1645223214382
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 Burl Coffee Table for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CACoffee table designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, c.1950s, USA. The rectangular table features an ebonized base with six turned wood legs and stretchers that reach the length of th...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMaple, Burl
- Edward Wormley Ebonized Dresser for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAEdward Wormley for Dunbar, c.1970s, USA. The mahogany dresser has been newly refinished and ebonized. It features three smaller drawers along the top of the dresser and four full len...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dressers
MaterialsMahogany
- Pair of Edward Wormley Side Tables for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAPair of Edward Wormley Side Tables for Dunbar, c.1940, USA. The tables feature a mahogany waterfall style body with olive green leather table top that cascades down one side of each ...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsLeather, Mahogany
$9,500 / set - Edward Wormley Bar Cart for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAAn ebonized bar cart by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, USA, c.1960s. The cart features a white laminate flip top surface with a double sided caned door f...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
MaterialsBrass
- Sectional Sofa by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAEdward Wormley for Dunbar, c.1960s, USA, two-piece sectional sofa. The sofa features split arm rests and an exposed sculpted ebonized wood frame. This sofa has been fully reupholster...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Sectional Sofas
MaterialsVelvet, Walnut
- Edward Wormley Walnut Coffee Table with Stone Inlay for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Los Angeles, CAEdward Wormley extending coffee table for Dunbar, c.1960s, USA. The walnut table features a brass edge detailing around all sides of table. Once extended the table reveals two stone ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsStone, Brass
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Walnut Flip Top Dining or Game Table, Newly RefinishedBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in South Bend, INAn exceptional Mid-Century Modern flip top game table or dining table By Edward Wormley for Dunbar USA, 1950s Walnut, with original brass hinges, leather wrapped feet, and velvet ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Game Tables
MaterialsLeather, Walnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Midcentury Dining TableBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Countryside, ILEdward Wormley for Dunbar midcentury dining table This table measures: 66 wide x 44 deep x 30 inches high, and each of the 2 leaves are 24 wide with a total width of the table 114...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Extension Dining TableBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Chicago, ILEdward Wormley for Dunbar Extension Dining Table. One-inch thick top with edge banding and a slight upward reveal or lip design detail shown in pictures. The table is 48" round in di...Category
Vintage 1950s American Dining Room Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Elliptical Conference / Dining TableBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Denton, TXEdward Wormley for dunbar walnut elliptical conference / dining table. Extra long oval table that can be used in a large dining room or conference room.Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsStainless Steel
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Classic Burlwood Dining TableBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Dallas, TXA classic parsons style dining table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Table has two 18" leaves. It is 66" wide without the leaves and extends to 102". Table has a highly figured burlwoo...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsBurl
- Edward Wormley Teak Dining Table for Dunbar #936By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Hudson, NYOval teak mahogany base with chrome steel glades big D tag design in 1950’s for Dunbar #936 Edward Wormley designer.Category
Vintage 1950s American Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWood