Walnut Dining Table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar
View Similar Items
Walnut Dining Table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 119.5 in (303.53 cm)Depth: 42 in (106.68 cm)
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Fully restored.
- Seller Location:Dallas, TX
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU85181784492
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 Dining Table by Edward WormleyBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA beautifully grained walnut dining table with leather wrapped feet. Designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Table measures 60" diameter and has a 20" leaf.Category
Vintage 1950s Dining Room Tables
MaterialsLeather, Walnut
- Travertine Dining Table / Desk by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXAn early bleached mahogany and travertine table / desk designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s Dining Room Tables
MaterialsTravertine
- Tawi Wood Dining Table by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA ten foot dining table designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar with expressively grained Tawi wood top and mahogany base with brass cleats. The table has th...Category
Vintage 1950s Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Four Dining Chairs by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA set of four Edward Wormley for Dunbar high back dining chairs with mahogany bases. Fully restored and reupholstered.Category
Vintage 1950s Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsMahogany
$8,500 / set - Table Designed by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA beautifully crafted table designed by Edward Worley for Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s End Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Coffee TableBy Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXA tall cocktail table designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s Center Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Oval Dining TableBy Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOEdward Wormley for Dunbar oval dining table, model # 696. Mahogany slight oval with sculpted legs and inset apron. Two 14" leaves. Extends to ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- 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 Hexagonal Mahogany and Walnut Dining TableBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Los Angeles, CAExtremely rare hexagonal dining table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Walnut top with ebonized mahogany border. Comes with two offset grain 16" leaves. Total length 84". The set comes ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWalnut, Mahogany
- Edward Wormley Extension Walnut Dining Table for Dunbar, circa 1953By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Camden, MEAn Edward Wormley walnut extension dining table designed for Dunbar in the early 1950s. The dark walnut base sets on four leather cased feet contrasts with the walnut top which is a ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsLeather, Walnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Walnut Extension Dining Table, Newly RefinishedBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in South Bend, INAn exceptional Mid-Century Modern extension dining table By Edward Wormley for Dunbar Furniture USA, 1950s Book-matched walnut top, with ebonized walnut banding and legs. ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Walnut Extension Dining Table, Newly RefinishedBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in South Bend, INAn exceptional Mid-Century Modern extension dining table By Edward Wormley for Dunbar Furniture USA, 1950s Book-matched walnut top, with ebonized walnut banding and legs. ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWalnut