After leaving Derby College in 1988 Nic Collins opened his first pottery at Postbridge in the middle of Dartmoor, Devon. It was on the site of a disused gunpowder manufacturing facility and was known as Powdermills Pottery.

He built a 60 cu ft wood fired kiln and produced one-off studio pieces and a range of domestic wares. Nic has now moved to Newton Abbot where he uses a smaller anagama kiln to facilitate multiple firings - some pots are fired up to seven times. He uses local materials for body clay and glazes and is one of the five anagama potters known as the Gnarly Dudes.