About the maker
Nic Collins (b. 1958) was born in Leamington Spa and lives and works in Moretonhampstead, Devon. He has been making pots for over 30 years. His early experience of wood firing came from necessity, as he had no other means of firing his work. From a young age he built his own kilns and wheels and sourced clay from local riverbanks. Alongside wood firing, he has experimented with raku, sawdust firings and salt glazing.
After teaching himself to throw, Collins studied at Derby College of Art, completing an HND in Studio Ceramics. He then gained workshop experience in Germany and Italy before returning to England to establish Powdermills Pottery at Postbridge on Dartmoor, the site of a former gunpowder mill. He worked there from 1988 to 2000, producing domestic wares and larger garden pieces. He now works from his own workshop in Moretonhampstead, on the edge of Dartmoor.
Collins’ work is informed by medieval English pottery and wood-fired Japanese ceramics. Wood firing produces warm, toasted surfaces, while careful kiln packing, based on traditional Japanese anagama kilns, allows a degree of control over the results. Firings can last up to 80 hours, reaching temperatures above 1300°C, followed by several days of cooling. He uses shino and ash glazes, and all work is made on a momentum kick wheel.
His early Olsen fast-fire kiln at Powdermills was later replaced by a large anagama-style kiln. The use of local clays and extended firings has led to more individual, one-off pieces, often marked by ash build-up, wadding marks, scars and flame flashing. Since moving premises, Collins has built a smaller kiln to further develop his ideas, with some pots returning to the fire multiple times to build surface texture and variation.
