Edward J. Wormley was born in 1907 in Oswego, Illinois and passed away an icon of mid-century design in 1995. He began his career in the interior design studio of Marshall Field & Company department store after having attended the Art Institute of Chicago from 1926-1928. In 1931 he was recruited by Dunbar. He quickly became the Design Director and remained so for the next three decades making Dunbar a name to be reckoned with in mid-century furnishings. This partnership is considered one of the most historically meaningful between a designer and a manufacturer. A quote from Wormley sums up the mid-century modern movement wonderfully as well as today’s design ethics: “Modernism means freedom-freedom to mix, to choose, to change, to embrace the new but to hold fast to what is good.”