Edward Wormley 'Magazine Tree' Shelves for Dunbar
View Similar Items
Edward Wormley 'Magazine Tree' Shelves for Dunbar
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 25.6 in (65 cm)Width: 27.56 in (70 cm)Depth: 15.75 in (40 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1953-1955
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Refinished condition. Top shelf comes with two areas with small wear, clearly shown on the multiple images. Furthermore good condition.
- Seller Location:Utrecht, NL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU932714453901
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 for Dunbar Walnut Magazine Tree TableBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Utrecht, NLMagazine tree, model 4765 by American designer Edward Wormley executed in birch and sap grain walnut, designed in 1947 for Dunbar Furniture USA. A very special, functional and aesth...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Magazine Racks and Stands
MaterialsBirch, Walnut
- Rare Model 3608 Brass & Leather Magazine Stand by Carl Aubock, AustriaBy Werkstätte Carl AuböckLocated in Utrecht, NLSolid brass and dark brown saddle leather magazine holder by Carl Aubock, Vienna from early 1960. Rare model 3608 magazine stand in solid brass & leather hand crafted at the renown ...Category
Vintage 1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Magazine Racks and Stands
MaterialsBrass
- Cognac PK 31 /2 Sofa by Poul Kjærholm for E. Kold ChristensenBy Poul KjærholmLocated in Utrecht, NLPK 31 /2 sofa settee by Poul Kjærholm, manufactured by first manufacturer Ejvindt Kold Christensen Denmark (marking on last photo). Sofa comes with original upholstered frame panels...Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Scandinavian Modern Sofas
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
- Nils Landberg 'Tulpan' Tulip Vases (3) for Orrefors Sweden, Expo 1957By Nils Landberg, OrreforsLocated in Utrecht, NLDelicate and ethereal, Tulpan (Tulip) vases by Swedish designer Nils Landberg. In the late 1940's Landberg developed the slender glass that made him famous. Sizes and shapes varied,...Category
Vintage 1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vases
MaterialsBlown Glass
- AJ Visor Wall Lamp by Arne Jacobsen for Louis Poulsen, 1970By Louis Poulsen, Arne JacobsenLocated in Utrecht, NLThis AJ Visor lamp was originally designed in 1958 for the famous Sas Royal hotel in Copenhagen, Arne Jacobsen's masterpiece for which he designed all the fur...Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Scandinavian Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsSteel
- Nils Landberg 'Tulpan' Tulip Vases for Orrefors Sweden, Expo 1957, Set of 5By Nils Landberg, OrreforsLocated in Utrecht, NLDelicate and ethereal, Tulpan (Tulip) vases by Swedish designer Nils Landberg. In the late 1940's Landberg developed the slender glass that made him famous. Sizes and shapes varied...Category
Vintage 1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vases
MaterialsBlown Glass
- Dunbar Magazine Tree #5336 Designed by Edward WormleyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Denton, TXEdward Wormley for Dunbar magazine tree in walnut with four cantilevered shelves that get deeper as the order descends from top to bottom. A rare model introduced in 1953 and was onl...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Shelves
MaterialsWalnut
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Concave Walnut Credenza and Display Shelves Wall UnitBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Ft. Lauderdale, FLThis superior design by Edward Wormley combines the sideboard or credenza with open and closed glass shelving in a curve front wall unit often called the Superstructure. It is made o...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Shelves
MaterialsBrass
$2,425 Sale Price50% Off - Edward Wormley Midcentury Magazine Rack for Dunbar in Brass and Wood Brown, 1950By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Milano, ITA timeless Classic. The Dunbar production relies on designer Edward Wormley to design this elegant magazine rack, which at the same time serves as a cabinet or coffee table. The pec...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Magazine Racks and Stands
MaterialsBrass
- 1970's Edward Wormley for Dunbar Wall Shelving Unit CabinetBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Burbank, CAVintage Mid-century Modern shelf for sale. It was manufactured in the 1970's by Dunbar, and designed by Edward Wormley. It has a lower credenza with cabinets and a drawer and shelves...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Shelves
MaterialsGlass, Burl
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Mid Century Etagere Shelf – PairBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Countryside, ILEdward Wormley for Dunbar Mid Century Etagere Shelf – Pair Each etagere measures: 20 wide x 20 deep x 79 inches high All pieces of furniture can be had in...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Shelves
MaterialsGlass, Wood
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Mid-Century Model 5264 Shelf BookcaseBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Countryside, ILEdward Wormley for Dunbar mid-century model 5264 shelf bookcase. This bookcase measures: 48 wide x 14.25 deep x 74.25 inches high. All pieces of furniture can be had in what we...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Bookcases
MaterialsWood