Elle Decoration UK - 09.2019

WORDS: NAME PICTURES: NAME

NOW

SEPTEMBER 2019 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 4 5

NOW

WORMLEY’S

KNOWLEDGE OF

DESIGN HISTORY,

AND RESPECT

FOR INNOVATION,

RESULTED IN A

STYLE ALL HIS OWN

‘Modernism means freedom – freedom to mix, to choose, to change, to embrace the new

but to hold fast to what is good,’ Edward J Wormley (1907-1995) once said. It was a

philosophy he lived by throughout his career, which flourished from the 1930s until the

1970s and was distinguished by his ability to adapt various design styles to suit a mainstream

American audience. Wormley borrowed freely from eras both ancient and modern –

classical Greek furniture, French Empire style and 1930s Modernism – yet he was anything

but a copyist. Rather, his exhaustive knowledge of design history, married with his respect

for innovation, resulted in a style all his own. In later life, he lapsed into obscurity, but

now a reissue of his best archive pieces promises to change that. Produced by Baker

Furniture, the collection features 20 designs.

Wormley was born in Oswego, a village in rural Illinois. He discovered a passion for design

while at high school, studying interior decoration via a correspondence course. Later, he

trained at the Art Institute of Chicago before travelling to Europe in 1931, where he met

heroes of the Modernist movement like Le Corbusier and Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann.

Returning to the US, he found the Depression in full swing, but serendipity united him with

Indiana manufacturer Dunbar. It specialised in handmade horse-drawn carriages, but the

invention of the automobile necessitated a change in direction. Wormley’s love of hand-

crafting suited the company, and his position as chief designer would last four decades.

The prolific designer produced upwards of 100 pieces for Dunbar each year. Inspired

by the Arts and Crafts movement, his 1957 ‘Janus’ collection (sofa, below), fused antique

influences with contemporary, angular shapes, and incorporated vintage elements,

including old Japanese woodblocks. Wormley also reworked existing designs with American

tastes in mind, but without ever sinking into the derivative.

Wormley’s status as American design hero was cemented in 1961, when Playboy magazine

photographed him with Eero Saarinen, Charles Eames, George Nelson and Harry Bertoia,

each man sitting on one of their own designs. His fame hasn’t quite kept pace with these

cohorts, but it’s surely time for him to step back into the limelight. bakerfurniture.com

DESIGN HERO

EDWARD J WORMLEY

The designer who reinterpreted European Modernism for the Americans

WO R D S: A MY B R A D F O R D P I C T U R E: CO L L E C T D U N B A R A R C H I V E