Nicolas Quezada Celado was the first of the Quezada siblings to be taught how to make pottery by their brother Juan. Part of the reason for that was that Juan was still refining his process himself.

In the early years Nicolas helped Juan a lot by finding new sources of clay, new materials to temper the clay with and new methods of polishing the pots. He was also the first potter in Mata Ortiz to construct a secador (a tank used to speed the drying of clay suspended in water).

Nicolas was always a great experimenter. He was the first potter in Mata Ortiz to try measuring very specific amounts of colored clay into prepared white clay to achieve very granular variations in color. The white clay he used was also among the hardest clays to form, fire and paint. Nicolas also discovered he could attain different shades of color by polishing the clay surface with unique combinations of water and oil.

Like his older brother, Nicolas decorated his pieces with long curving lines and sweeping arcs of color. He didn't like to work with blackware as he didn't like to polish his pots several times in order to get them smooth enough for that glossy black finish.

Also like his older brother, Nicolas made many trips around the United States demonstrating and teaching his pottery making techniques. He and his wife live in a modern adobe in Casas Grandes, overlooking the ruins of Paquimé.