Edward Wormley for Dunbar 3-Tier Side Table
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 27 in (68.58 cm)Width: 26 in (66.04 cm)Depth: 18 in (45.72 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU800231271692
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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Brooklyn, NY
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Side Table Model # 5425By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NYOccasional table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, model 5425. Rosewood and Walnut folding x-base with removable mahogany tray top. Labeled with Dunbar gold metal tagCategory
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsRosewood, Mahogany
- Pair Edward Wormley for Dunbar Side Tables, Model 279By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NYRare and sophisticated lamp tables in dark stained mahogany. The simple, architectural configuration is surprisingly contemporary for a 70 year old design. Original finish, with rect...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar, Pair Mahogany End TablesBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated 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
- Edward Wormley, Early Pair Side Tables model 4774ABy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NYPerfect, architectural 3-tier mahogany side tables by Edward Wormley. This simple, streamlined design typifies Wormley’s restrained modern style of the 1940s. The pair retains thei...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar, Model 4423 Three-Tier Mahogany End TableBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Brooklyn, NYAn early, c. 1944, design by Edward Wormley, beloved for its forward thinking minimalist form, and comfortable practicality. The three tiers are supported by an architectural frame ...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Mahogany Occasional Table by Edward WormleyBy Edward WormleyLocated in Brooklyn, NYWonderful ribbon mahogany top has jewel-like iridescence. Solid-brass casters. Small brass knobs to tie down an upholstered cushion, for use as an ottoman/stool. Early Dunbar brass l...Category
Vintage 1940s American End Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Edward Wormley Side Table for DunbarBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Chicago, ILEdward Wormley side table for Dunbar. The scarcer form with two-tier tabletop.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsWood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Walnut and Mahogany Two-Tier Side Table, RestoredBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in South Bend, INAn exceptional Mid-Century Modern two-tier occasional side table By Edward Wormley for Dunbar Furniture USA, circa 1960s Book-matched walnut, with dark mahogany trim. Mea...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMahogany, Walnut
- Pair of Edward Wormley for Dunbar 3-Tiered Wooden Rectangular End / Side TablesBy Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYPAIR of American Mid-Century wooden end tables with a rectangular top and two identical lower shelves supported by four square legs. (EDWARD WORMLEY FOR DUNBAR)(PRICED AS PAIR)Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsWood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Light Finished Wooden Two Tier End / Side TableBy Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYAmerican Mid-Century two-tier end / side table with a square top with a shallow gallery above a lower shelf containing a single drawer supported by two reverse tapered legs. (EDWARD ...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsWood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Dark Finished Wooden Two Tier End / Side TableBy Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYAmerican Mid-Century two-tier dark finished wooden end / side table with a square top with a shallow gallery above a lower shelf containing a single drawer supported by two reverse t...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsWood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Medium Brown Wooden Three Tier End / Side TableBy Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYAmerican mid-century three-tier medium brown finished wooden end table with a rectangular top and two shelves below, with rectangular supports on either side, resting on a pedestal b...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsWood