Edward Wormley Pair of Rare 3-Tier End Tables 1944 'Signed'
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley Pair of Rare 3-Tier End Tables 1944 'Signed'
About the Item
- Creator:Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer),Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 22.5 in (57.15 cm)Width: 26 in (66.04 cm)Depth: 19 in (48.26 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1944
- Condition:
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: endtables421stDibs: LU783819161062
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.
- Clean-Line End Table in Teak by Edward WormleyBy 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
- Parsons Style Side Table by Edward WormleyBy 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
- Edward Wormley Pair of Rare Twin Headboards in Sculpted Walnut 1957, 'Signed'By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYPair of rare twin headboards model no. 5731 in sculpted walnut from the Janus Series by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American 1957 (with original metal labels signed “DUNBAR Berne, Ind...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsWalnut
- Edward Wormley Coffee Table with Italian Travertine Top 1952 'Signed'By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYParsons style coffee table model No. 5206, base in dark mahogany with inset Italian travertine top, by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American 1952 (metal and paper labels on bottom). Ed...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsTravertine
- Edward Wormley Pair of Twin Headboards for Dunbar 1950sBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYPair of twin headboards in mahogany with inset cane by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American 1950's (original Dunbar paper label on back). The fr...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsCane, Mahogany
- Edward Wormley Elegant Game Table with Red Leather Top 1940s 'Signed'By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYRare game table in mahogany with gently curving legs and sides with inset red leather top by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, American 1940's (signed with green metal tag on bottom ”DUNBAR...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Game Tables
MaterialsLeather, Mahogany
- Dunbar Ebonized Two Tier End Table by Edward WormleyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYA two tier mahogany end table in ebonized finish by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. USA, circa 1950. Signed. Dimensions: 28 inches high x 21¾ inches wide.Category
Vintage 1950s North American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWood, Mahogany
- Tiered End Table by Edward WormleyBy Edward WormleyLocated in Sagaponack, NYA two-tiered round end table on three legs with single drawer. Shelf height is 16.5".Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- End Table by Edward WormleyBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Sagaponack, NYA fine and uncommon pair of end tables having sculptural exposed frames in stained mahogany and expressive floating tops of molded birch with upturned edges.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMahogany, Birch
$9,500 / item - End Table by Edward WormleyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Sagaponack, NYA tailored two-level square end or lamp table in walnut having splayed tapering legs.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWood
$10,500 - Edward Wormley for Dunbar, Pair Mahogany End TablesBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NYAn early example of Edward Wormley's sophisticated Modernism. Stepped two-tier end tables with subtle Chinoise elements to the carving of the base. These retain the original dark mah...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Dunbar Edward Wormley Polygon End TableBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in New York, NYA mahogany end table with polygon top. Made by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. USA, circa 1960. Signed with Dunbar brass tag. Dark brown finish. Dimensions: 20" L × 19" D x 19.5" H. Loc...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWood, Mahogany