Furniture designer and interior decorator, Edward J Wormley, was born to Edith and M. J. Wormley in Oswego, Illinois in 1907. After graduating from high school in 1926, Wormley attended the Art Institute of Chicago, but left school after three terms to begin his professional career at Marshall Fields Design Studios and their quality furniture supplier Berkey & Gay in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1931, when Depression-era cutbacks left Wormley unemployed, he traveled to Europe, where he developed a lifelong love for traveling and self-study.

Upon his return, Wormley was introduced to Homer Neiderhauser, president of the Indiana-based Dunbar Furniture Company, who was looking for a new designer to upgrade the production quality of Dunbar's furniture. Wormley, only 23 years old, was given the position. Eventually he became Dunbar’s sole designer, a partnership that would last for nearly forty years. During World War II, Wormley left Dunbar to hold a government position with the Furniture Unit of the Office of Price Administration. He returned to Dunbar in 1944, this time as an independent consultant, an arrangement that enabled him to move to New York City and establish his own design studio. For the next decade, Wormley designed carpets, textiles, cabinets, and other products for a roster of clients, all the while continuing as head designer for Dunbar. Wormley and Dunbar continued to gain recognition in the design world, and in 1954 Wormley signed exclusively with Dunbar.

Wormley is often cited as one the most influential designers of mid-20th century, modern American furniture. A number of his designs were featured in the 1950, 1951 and 1952 “Good Design” exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art, one of several museums to hold Wormley furniture in their collections. A 1961 article in Playboy magazine places Wormley alongside leading designers Charles Eames, George Nelson and Eero Saarinen. The article quotes Wormley on Modernism: “Modernism means freedom to mix, to choose, to change, to embrace the new but to hold fast to what is good." In 1967, after receiving numerous awards and accolades and still at the height of his career, Wormley retired from design and moved to Weston, Connecticut with his partner, Edward Crouse.

Although retired, Wormley continued to lecture and serve as a visiting critic at Parsons School of Design until the late 1960s, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the school in 1984. Wormley and Crouse traveled extensively, their last trip together occurring in 1975, the year of Crouse's death from cancer. Edward J Wormley died in Connecticut on November 3, 1995 at the age of 86.

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Selected sources:

Gura, Judith, Chris Kennedy, Larry Weinberg, eds. Edward Wormley: The Other Face of Modernism. North Hampton, MA: DESIGNbase, Lin-Weinberg Gallery, 1997.

Kaufmann, Edgar, Jr. The Dunbar Book of Contemporary Furniture. Berne, IN: Dunbar Corporation, 1956.

Streett, Sara. "Guide to the Edward J Wormley and Edward Crouse papers, 1831-1997 (bulk 1907-1997)." Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, 2003. Accessed January 2, 2011, http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ead/htmldocs/RMM07684.html.