Marianne Starck (1938-2007) was a German-born ceramic designer best known for her work for Michael Andersen & Son (MA&S) which was located in Rønne on the island of Bornholm, Denmark. She was the the company’s art director from 1955 to 1993 at which point the business was sold to Solveig Ussing who had worked for the company since the age of fourteen.
Starck served her apprenticeship at Thoms Keramik in Brunsbüttel, Germany, and later studied graphic design in Germany at Landeskunstschule (University of Fine Arts, Hamburg).
She had many different styles during her long and productive career. My favourites are her designs with folk art type figures and the black & white (and sometimes red) Tribal range which she designed in the 1950s.
You can find many examples of her designs available for sale on eBay and Etsy.
Graduating in 1954, Robert Jefferson attended the Royal College of Art in London and became a ceramics lecturer at Stoke-on-Trent College of Art.
In 1958, Jefferson joined pottery manufacturers Carter & Company as a designer rather than a ‘thrower’. He was instrumental in the creation of the more artistic ‘Studio’ side of things.
The following year, he created the Pebble range of dinner service. The pattern was machine stamped in both a black and grey colourway (both shown in the montage above).
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In 1961/62, he designed the Lucullus ovenware range. It included pieces decorated with motifs of eggs, vegetables, mushrooms, a cockerel and seafood on a background the teal colour of the Blue Moon series. His similar Herb Garden range was printed on to a lemon yellow glazed background.
At around the same time, he designed a range of decorative wall plaques in the shape of birds, fish and, strangely, daggers (all shown in the montage above). These all remain highly sought after to this day.
In 1963, Carter & Company rebranded and became Poole Pottery.
In 1964, he designed the Helios lamp bases. They were produced in many colourways including blue, brown, olive, wine and cream. In the same year, he also designed the hand-painted Bokhara tableware series, which included many shapes of lidded preserve pot.
He created the Compact range in 1965 which consisted of stackable, ribbed tea and coffee service pieces. The Compact shape was glazed in Azure (blue), Broadstone (speckled cream with dark brown edging), Chestnut (reddish brown), Choisya (olive green), Lakestone (speckled with light brown edging) and Parkstone (speckled grey with dark brown edging).
Towards the end of 1965, Jefferson left Poole Pottery. The book, Robert Jefferson: The Quiet Virtuoso is available from Abe Books and Amazon. Vintage examples of his work are always available for sale on eBay and Etsy.
In this week’s Designer Desire, it’s the turn of yet of another individual from the hugely talented Arabia stable, Gunvor Olin Grönqvist (1928-2005).
During our action-packed week in London a fortnight ago, we spent a sunny afternoon at the V&A exploring their splendid glass, ceramic and metalware galleries. They had a fair few modernist Scandinavian examples on display, including a couple of sculptural pieces by Olin Grönqvist (see top right image).
She worked at the Finnish ceramic firm for her entire professional career, which spanned 1951 to 1992. She was responsible for designing many of the company’s enduring patterns including Fructus, Köökki, Kosmos, Sirpa, Löyly (Steam), Sauna, Nimeton (Anonymous), Nooan Arkki (Noah’s Ark), Kengu, Valpuri, Soraya, Atelje, Haarikka (tankard), Tea For Two, Mimmi, Mamselli, Laura and Emma.
You can find vintage examples of her crockery and serveware readily on eBay and Etsy.
I’ve often talked about wishing that designers that make bright, fun, fashionable clothes for kids would do it for grown ups too. Well, Graziela Preiser does just that!
I first happened across her name last week when I was looking into ceramic designers that worked for Thomas and Rosenthal. She produced the Brigitte Extra Modell children’s range under the former’s brand name in the 1970s.
With the surge in popularity in vintage design, her London-based Art Director daughter, Nina Nägel encouraged her to reissue her back catalogue and in 2008, mother & daughter launched byGraziela.
