Mrs. Nirmala Patwardhan is the daughter of Shri Pratap Dialadas-a Sindhu varqui of Hyderabad, Sind. She is married to Shri Patwardhan Balu, who is the brother of Shri Achuyat Patwardhan the famous underground freedom fighter of the quit India movement.

Nirmala got her Art education of Kala Bhavan, Shanti Niketan under Acharya Nadalal Bose from 1944 to 1947. She has got training in poetry for one year at the Akademic der Bilden Kunst in Stuttgart (West German) in Ceramics. She was an Apprentice to Raymond Flinch at Winchoombe England from 1961 to 1963. She has studied at the Farnham Art School under Henry Hamond, 1961.

She has written many books on pottery and has held exhibitions in Delhi, Bangalore, Bombay and in London. She has done one man show as well as general exhibition and has exhibited her art in shows sponsored by the Lalit Kala Akademi-New Delhi as well as held exhibition in 1972 international Ceramics at Victoria and Albert Museum, London.