Sleek Tuxedo Dunbar Sofa Model 488 by Edward Wormley
View Similar Items
Sleek Tuxedo Dunbar Sofa Model 488 by Edward Wormley
About the Item
- Creator:Dunbar Furniture (Maker),Edward Wormley (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 26 in (66.04 cm)Width: 94 in (238.76 cm)Depth: 34 in (86.36 cm)Seat Height: 16.75 in (42.55 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s or 1960s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Very good condition. This piece has been reupholstered at some point and upholstery is still very good.
- Seller Location:Hudson, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU106285196753
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.
- Pair of Grand Scale Edward Wormley for Dunbar Parsons Tables in Dark MahoganyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Hudson, NYBeautiful pair of Dunbar Parsons tables designed by Ed Wormley. Both tables retain the original Dunbar badge on the underside.Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Roger Lee Sprunger for Dunbar Elegant Leather Office Chairs 10 AvailableBy Dunbar Furniture, Roger Sprunger, Edward WormleyLocated in Hudson, NY10 available Absolutely stunning butter soft leather Roger Sprunger for Dunbar office chairs on smooth gliding casters. All original chairs are in very good condition - ready to ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
MaterialsMetal
$2,240 Sale Price / item20% Off - Pair of Sleek Mahogany Parzinger Style Dining / Occasional Chairs by John StuartBy John Stuart Inc.Located in Hudson, NYAn elegant pair of John Stuart armchairs that could be used as dining or occasional chairs. They have the original dark mahogany almost ebony finish and serviceable original fabric. ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsMahogany, Upholstery
- Sleek Ward Bennett for Lehigh Naugahyde Barrell Back Desk ChairsBy Lehigh Furniture Company, Ward BennettLocated in Hudson, NYWard Bennett amazingly sleek designed office chair on aluminium star base. 3 available. All good condition with the exception of the naugahyde upholstery. All have some small tears a...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Rare Pair Sleek Nicos Zographos Limited Leather & Stainless Steel Club ChairsBy Nicos Zographos, Zographos Designs Ltd.Located in Hudson, NYPair of stunning black leather Nicos Zogrophos club chairs. Priced per pair. two pair available. Nicos Zographos made his name during his time at the renown architecture firm ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Armchairs
MaterialsStainless Steel
- 6 Milo Baughman Design Institute America Brass Tuxedo Parsons Chairs Plus 4 XtraBy Design Institute America, Milo BaughmanLocated in Hudson, NYA handsome set of Milo Baughman brass plated Parsons dining chairs manufactured by Design Institute of America in the 1970s. These chairs are all original and retain their original upholstery and some labels are still intact. We have a total of ten of these chairs. The original set of 6 which consists of 2 arm chairs and 4 side chairs. We also have an extra 4 side chairs that came from another home. Upholstery is the same with the exception of more fade. Ideally chairs would be reupholstered for the greater good. Please send message...Category
Vintage 1970s American Hollywood Regency Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsBrass
- Dunbar Model 7350 Sofas by Edward WormleyBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Chicago, ILDunbar Model 7350 sofas by Edward Wormley. Vintage 1970’s sofas with more recent grey & pink silk upholstery.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsSilk
$9,500 / set - Edward Wormley Model 4907 Sofa by DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Highland, INn our opinion, this Ed Wormely design for Dunbar is one of the most spectacular sofas ever made. Modern, classic, and timeless... this form transcends styles, genres and eras. Nine f...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsBrass
- Midcentury 101in Model 488 Sofa by Edward Wormley for DunbarBy Edward WormleyLocated in Pasadena, TXDunbar Edward Wormley Wormley has pioneered in a broad field of design, he was one of those unique designers who was sensitive to the interplay involved in selling modernism and st...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsFabric, Down
$5,520 Sale Price20% Off - Edward Wormley for Dunbar Model 495 SofaBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Dallas, TXThis sofa has beautiful lines and a gently curved back. A true classic. The fabric is original and in very good condition. It is a rich and high-quality texture that looks like embro...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany
- Edward Wormley Dunbar SofaBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Chicago, ILEdward Wormley Dunbar sofa can be paired as a sectional with matching chaise longue 5525 we have offered in another listing.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsUpholstery
$15,000 - Dunbar Sofa by Edward WormleyBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Brooklyn, NYChic gold velvet upholstered sofa with down back and side cushions and sprung seat. Beautifully carved mahogany feet. This is an extremely well built and comfortable sofa, with typic...Category
Vintage 1950s American Sofas