Marianne Starck was a German-born ceramist, who was art director of the Danish pottery company Michael Andersen & Son from 1955 until the business was sold in 1993. While with Michael Andersen & Son, Starck produced beautiful studio pieces, and her work is some of the finest to have come out of the company.

Marianne Starck pieces can generally be identified by the incised initials "MS" and the Michael Andersen triangle herring logo, which was taken from the coat of arms of the Town of Roenne on the island of Bornholm where the factory was located.
 
Michael Andersen has delivered sublime Danish design and ceramics since 1890 with dedicated collectors all over the world from New York to Tokyo. Michael Andersen (1859-1931) was trained as a ceramist at Lauritz Hjorth in Rønne on Bornholm. in 1890 Michael Andersen took over Th. Stibolt's ceramic company in Rønne and continued it in his own name. The ceramic business can be dated as far back as 1771. In 1935, Michael Andersen won a prestigious gold medal at the World Exposition in Brussels (Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles) for his glaze, and is rightly described as the master of the glaze.
Michael Andersen photographs are the courtesy of Michael Andersen Company