Edward Wormley Ebony Side or End Table for Dunbar
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley Ebony Side or End Table for Dunbar
About the Item
- Creator:Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer),Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 19.88 in (50.5 cm)Width: 23.5 in (59.69 cm)Depth: 26.5 in (67.31 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Refinished. Recently refinished in an ebony stain.
- Seller Location:Miami, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU5392222868882
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 vintage seating, storage cabinets, bar carts and other 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 Sandalwood and Blackened Steel Coffee Table for Dunbar, 1950sBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Miami, FLRare Edward Wormley designed coffee table with nine inset blackened steel plates on a sandalwood Parsons style frame. Manufactured by Dunbar, 1950s. The sandalwood has been stripped ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsSteel
$2,000 Sale Price63% Off - Olaf Von Bohr Trio Stool or Side Table for Gedy, 1970sBy Olaf von BohrLocated in Miami, FLThree-legged plastic Trio stool / side table designed by Olaf Von Bohr for Gedy. Top diameter: 12-1/2".Category
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsPlastic
- Percival Lafer Rosewood and Smoked Glass Coffee or Side Table, 1970sBy Percival LaferLocated in Miami, FLRosewood and smoked glass top coffee or side table by Percival Later. Brazil, 1970s; maintains original label.Category
Vintage 1970s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsSmoked Glass, Rosewood
- Jorge Zalszupin Petalas Side Tables for L'Atelier, 1960s, a PairBy L’Atelier, Jorge ZalszupinLocated in Miami, FLOriginal pair of 1960s Petalas side tables made of Jacaranda by Brazilian designer Jorge Zalszupin. Each table maintains a L'Atelier label, the manu...Category
Mid-20th Century Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsJacaranda
Sold$20,000 / set - Paul Mayen Polished Steel and Glass Side Table for Habitat, 1970sBy Paul Mayen, Habitat InternationalLocated in Miami, FLPolished steel and glass side table designed by Paul Mayen and produced by Habitat International, circa 1970s.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsSteel
- Postmodern Granite and Black Tubular Steel Base Coffee or Side Tables, a PairBy Sottsass AssociatiLocated in Miami, FLPair of postmodern black powder-coated V-shaped tubular steel base tables with solid granite marble tops from the 1980s. Can be arranged in a multitude of variations: side tables, coffee tables, or stacking shelves...Category
Vintage 1980s Unknown Post-Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGranite, Metal
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Midcentury Side End TableBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Countryside, ILEdward Wormley for Dunbar midcentury Side End Table This side table measures: 21 wide x 21 deep x 22.5 inches high All pieces of furniture can be had in what we call restored v...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Mid Century Side End TableBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Countryside, ILEdward Wormley for Dunbar mid century side end table This end table is 18 wide x 18 deep x 27 high All pieces of furniture can be had i...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWood
- Edward Wormley Side Table for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated 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
- 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 ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- 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
- Dunbar Edward Wormley Polygon End TableBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated 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