Born in Marylebone, Collingwood was known for his technical innovations and his work is appreciated internationally. Collingwood trained as a doctor and even travelled to Jordan with the Royal Army Medical Corps, however it was about this time that he discovered his passion for weaving. Collingwood made his own looms from deckchairs and would make scarves for the officers’ wives. On returning back to England, Collingwood studied under Ethel Mairet, who at the time was one of the most respected weavers in Britain.

Collingwood later went onto work with Barbara Sawyer and Alastair Morton. During this time he developed his style and experimented with his technique. During 1952, Collingwood set up a workshop in Archway in London where he built his own equipment and produced works that he later sold to Liberty’s and Heal’s. Collingwood excelled himself in the weaving world and would exhibit with the Red Rose Guild and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society along with writing pieces for the Journal of the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinner and Dyers.

The bulk of Collingwood’s income however, came from his work at the art schools in Hammersmith, Camberwell and Central. In 1957, Collingwood worked with Hans Coper and together they exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1969. Collingwood’s reputation continued to rise and by 1962 he was asked to run a workshop in the US. By the end of his life and career Collingwood was celebrated and thought of as a master weaver and lived out the rest of his life living and working in his converted school in Essex.