Dunbar Murano Glass Tile Top & Brass Coffee Table by Edward Wormley, USA, 1950s
View Similar Items
Dunbar Murano Glass Tile Top & Brass Coffee Table by Edward Wormley, USA, 1950s
About the Item
- Creator:Edward Wormley (Designer),Dunbar Furniture (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 16.25 in (41.28 cm)Width: 45.5 in (115.57 cm)Depth: 16.75 in (42.55 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU804813029072
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.
- Warren Platner Glass Top Chrome Coffee Table for Knoll, USA 1970sBy Warren PlatnerLocated in New York, NYOne of Knoll's most enduring designs. The Platner series looks as fresh as it did when it was designed fifty years ago.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsChrome
- Brutalist Silver Gilt Floral Table with Glass Top by Lost City ArtsBy Curtis JeréLocated in New York, NYThis table has a great look and size. It's a copy of a vintage piece we loved and decided to produce.Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Coc...
MaterialsSteel
- Brutalist Bronze Gilt Floral Table with Glass Top by Lost City ArtsBy Curtis JeréLocated in New York, NYThis table is a copy of a vintage piece we loved and decided to produce. It also comes in a lower model 16" in height.Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Coc...
MaterialsSteel
- Biomorphic Coffee Table by Silas SeandelBy Silas SeandelLocated in New York, NYRare 1960's Bronze Biomorphic Coffee Table by Silas Seandel, patinated with brushed textured top. This is a smaller SINGLE table from a t...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBronze
- Biomorphic Coffee Table by Silas SeandelBy Silas SeandelLocated in New York, NYRare 1960's Bronze Biomorphic Coffee Table by Silas Seandel, patinated with brushed textured top. This is a larger SINGLE table from a t...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBronze
- Live Edge Coffee Table by George NakashimaBy George NakashimaLocated in New York, NYPhenomenal live edge coffee table by George Nakashima. circa 1960s with an organic walnut burl flow. Approximate overall dimensions: 58"W x 33.5"D x 13"H.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- Mosaic Tile Coffee Table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1950s, SignedBy Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis spectacular deep brown walnut coffee table was designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1950s, and features Mid-Century Modern flared legs and golden mosaic tile inlay wrapping all four sides and on the table top. Signed underneath with the Dunbar Berne Indiana brass label. This mosaic tile inlay coffee table...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut, Glass
$3,600 Sale Price43% Off - Edward Wormley Cocktail Table, Dunbar 1950sBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXCocktail table designed by Edward Wormley and manufactured by Dunbar.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
$3,200 Sale Price27% Off - Edward J. Wormley Leather Top & Brass Coffee Table for DunbarBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Los Angeles, CAEdward J. Wormley Leather Top & Brass Coffee Table for Dunbar Introducing the Edward J. Wormley Leather Top & Brass Coffee Table for Dunbar, a vintage...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Edward Wormley Coffee Table for "Dunbar", 1950sBy Edward WormleyLocated in New York, NYLarge scale, round coffee table by Edward Wormley for "Dunbar", produced in 1950s in Burne, Indiana. Newly refinished mahogany base with original cork top. Label underneath. Great ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMahogany, Cork
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Cocktail Table with Glass Tile Top and Brass TrimBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXBeautiful cocktail table designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, 1950s. Table has "x" pattern wooden base in mahogany, a glass tile top with a brass trim surround. A timeless piece.Category
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail T...
MaterialsBrass
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Cocktail Table with Brass Stretcher, 1950sBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Dallas, TXWe have fully restored this beautiful cocktail table by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. It has a mahogany frame and a walnut top, a shelf underneath the top and a brass stretcher that sur...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass