Wormley

davidheim1 · 8 Jun 2018, 16:54

Recently found some good images of this rolltop desk, designed by Edward Wormley for Dunbar Furniture in the mid-1950s. The original is made of mahogany and rosewood. It's an iconic piece of midcentury modern furniture, with some oddities: Brass L-brackets support the drawers; I can imagine the drawers falling off their tracks. The legs and lower stretchers look too spindly to my eye, and I have a hunch the drawers and writing surface are cantilevered too much, making the desk prone to tipping over. Unless, of course, Wormley hid some ballast under the rolltop tambours.
Enjoy.
dh

pilou · 8 Jun 2018, 17:08

Cosy!

davidheim1 · 8 Jun 2018, 17:22

Thank you, sir.

tuna1957 · 9 Jun 2018, 02:39

very nice

davidheim1 · 9 Jun 2018, 13:47

Thanks, tuna.

tuna1957 · 10 Jun 2018, 00:46

O.K. David, got looking at your great model again and I got a question. Where the heck does the track for the tambours run? Got looking and the length of the tambours is greater than the height of the back. Do they circle around and under the drawers in a hidden space? Just got to wondering......

davidheim1 · 10 Jun 2018, 02:15

I wish I could answer your question, tuna, but I haven't a clue about where the tambour goes. For all I know, it just drops behind the drawers. I fudged the model and only showed the visible part of the tambour.
Best,
dh

Dave R · 12 Jun 2018, 20:51

Nice work, David.

I've looked at photos of that desk with the idea that I might model it but haven't done it. You beat me to it.

From photos I've been able to find of the desk, I don't believe the tambour slides in under the drawer below the desktop. It looks to me as if the tambour would be too wide for that and the back leg would be in the way. I suspect it rolls up behind the drawers at the back of the tambour section. The end slat on the tambour only needs to close the gap at the back when the tambour is pulled forward so I expect there'd be room for it rolled up.

davidheim1 · 12 Jun 2018, 23:52

Thank you, Dave. Let me see what I can learn about the tambours.

davidheim1 · 13 Jun 2018, 20:34

According to the company selling a Wormley desk on 1stdibs.com , the tambours slide down inside the base, behind the drawers. And when fully opened, there's still about 6 inches of tambour showing.

Dave R · 13 Jun 2018, 20:41

Interesting. So they don't go back quite as far as I thought. Thanks for doing the research.