Categories for Company News

Winners of prestigious BELLA – Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Award

Design Group UK Eve Sleep Gifting Range was entered in the Best Licensed Health & Beauty product range category demonstrating our ability to create innovative gifting products outside of our food gifting ranges. The “well slept by eve” brand in collaboration with Boots is a collection of products curated for a ‘pre-sleep’ gifting range. The range […]

IG Design Group UK Ltd Charitable Contribution to the Trussell Trust

Paul Wilkes Polaris Managing Director and Zena Goddard Polaris Commercial Director were delighted to hand over a Cheque to the Trussell Trust for £48,328 on behalf of IG Design Group UK Ltd. We would like to thank our customers that support us with the purchase of our Tom Smith Crackers, to date we have raised […]

Design Group UK and the Environment -Recycling week 2021

We are committed to being a sustainable and environmentally conscious business working collaboratively with our supply chain, customers, employees and community. As a market leader in our industry, we aim to minimise our impact on the environment by constantly challenging ourselves to find ways in which we can use our scale and people to influence and drive […]

Eco Nature introduces a Brand Website, #ecobyname #ecobynature

Eco Nature is a fully sustainable in house brand of IG Design Group UK Ltd. We design, develop and create environmentally sympathetic celebration and stationery products which have minimal impact on the world around us. Eco Nature products are all manufactured in the UK from recycled materials and are recyclable after use. Our Mission and […]

Design Group PT Handle Gift Bags – Fully recyclable; Available right now; NO sea freight surcharges! NO shipping delays!

Introducing the IG Design Group alternative gift bag range made in our in-house manufacturing facilities in South Wales, printed using water-based inks on state-of-the-art, efficient equipment entirely powered by electricity from renewable sources. Our equally performing gift bags are made with less materials and locally in the United Kingdom compared with more conventional gift bag […]

Explore the world of licensed

Design Group UK explore the world of licensed properties with passion and we are excited to present our broad portfolio of properties, incorporating beloved characters and on-trend themes, catering for all ages. Explore our new kids core stationery from Disney’s Princesses and Marvel’s Spider-Man, as well as our fabulous range of Playstation stationery, from our […]

Eco Nature introduces a sustainable spring and summer collection.

At IG Design Group UK, we are committed to minimising our impact on the environment through the development of sustainable products, packaging, supply chain, and manufacturing solutions. Nature is the reference point for each of our individual collections as our Design Team take inspiration from the precious natural world around us. We combine illustration techniques […]

Design Group is deeply saddened

As a Royal Warrant holder to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Tom Smith is deeply saddened by the death of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and profoundly grateful for his extraordinary service to the nation over so many years. We offer our deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to Her Majesty The Queen and The Royal Family. Fond memories from 30th April […]

The Solution is Sustainability!

Our future is to be environmentally sustainable. As UK Retailers respond to consumer expectations for solutions to the climate change and global pollution challenge so the demand is growing for products that have solid environmental credentials. At IG Design Group, our in-house brand `Eco NatureTM’ provides an environmentally responsible range of gift-packaging and stationery products […]

Design Group UK Launches a Virtual Trade Show for 2021

Despite the effects and impacts of Covid-19 Design Group UK has continued to invest in its showrooms adding theatre to expansive product ranges on display, creating an enhanced customer buying experience This week we have launched a Virtual Trade Show for all our customers unable to visit us in person, enabling us to unveil our […]

IG Design Group UK – Our Carbon Commitment

IG Design Group UK continues to take measures to reduce our business-wide carbon footprint. By example, this includes removing unnecessary product packaging, removing where possible plastic content from products altogether and contracting for electricity for our UK manufacturing processes only derived from renewable sources. We also increasingly use recycled materials for manufacturing such as our […]

Tom Smith Christmas Selection Boxes Exclusive To Amazon

Tom Smith™ Crackers were granted their first Royal Warrant in 1906, and today the Tom Smith brand owned by IG Design Group UK Ltd still holds a Royal Warrant of Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen as Suppliers of Christmas Crackers and Wrapping Paper. Tom Smith Christmas Selection Boxes exclusively on sale at our Tom […]

Kids Create by IG Design Group launches Recycle and Create to inspire a fun way of reusing unwanted household materials.

The National lockdown and accompanying school closures encouraged parents and children to rediscover fun ways of spending time together. What better than parents enjoying crafting with their children, providing entertainment and doing more outside activities and living healthier lifestyles together. Remember the days when your imagination could transform an empty egg carton into fantastic creatures? Our […]

Design is at the heart of everything we do but with the environment in mind!

To our valued customers who have continued to trade throughout the lockdown a wholehearted thank you for your support and much-valued business. For valued customers just emerging from lockdown, welcome back and Design Group UK stands ready to support you as you recommence trading. As our country continues to emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown and […]

Delighted to present Velindre Cancer Care Hospital with a donation of £2000.

Tom Smith, owned by IG Design Group UK Ltd, is a premium global brand in Christmas Greetings Products, including crackers, wrapping paper, greetings cards & accessories. Tom Smith is extremely proud to hold our Royal Warrant by Her Majesty The Queen; a great honour originally bestowed upon us in 1906. Tom Smith supply Christmas Crackers and […]

Creatively capturing a heartwarming & uplifting Rainbow, symbolising positivity, optimism and hope.

At IG Design Group UK, we are committed to minimising our impact on the environment through the development of a sustainable product, packaging, supply chain and manufacturing solutions. After the successful launch of our Eco Nature Range early this year, Design Group UK launches a new vibrant Summer Collection, creatively capturing a heartwarming & uplifting Rainbow, […]

Colonel Tom is a true legend!

Design Group UK is delighted and proud to share a birthday card designed by our Studio in Wales and sent to Captain, now Colonel, Tom Moore to wish him a very special happy 100th birthday Colonel Tom is a true legend! He has inspired many and galvanised the power of our Great British community to […]

IG Design Group UK Customer & Vendor Update Covid-19 08th April 2020

Dear Valued Customer I very much hope You, your families and colleagues are well. Thank you for your understanding and support during our temporary operational shutdown. We understand that many of our customers are continuing to trade, continuing to serve consumers during this difficult period and we have received numerous requests for stock deliveries. In […]

IG Design Group UK Customer & Vendor Update Covid-19 24th March 2020

There is absolutely no doubt we are all collectively experiencing unprecedented events that as clearly articulated by our Prime Minister yesterday evening now require extraordinary measures to combat the coronavirus threat. Throughout this fast escalating crisis we have always acted on Government guidance in the best interests of our people whilst protecting our business and […]

Committed to minimising our impact

At IG Design Group, we are committed to minimising our impact on the environment through the development of sustainable product, packaging, supply chain and manufacturing solutions. IG Design Group UK has invested in excess of £3m over two years introducing to our UK manufacturing facility both high-speed bag manufacturing capability and complimentary gift bow-making equipment. […]

Being part of the solution!

At IG Design Group, we are committed to minimising our impact on the environment through the development of sustainable product & packaging solutions. Our new Eco Nature sustainable greetings collection promotes a circular economy through product regeneration and is designed, sourced and produced within our UK manufacturing site. We offer coordination across product categories with […]

Springfair 2020 Update

In case you missed it, last week was the annual Spring Fair at the NEC – our opportunity to showcase our broad and extensive range of must-have product solutions. Design Group UK moved to a new location in the Everyday Exhibition Hall No. 9. This was a great success as the proximity to other halls […]

IG Design Group UK will be returning to the Spring Fair.

After a phenomenal exhibition last year, IG Design Group UK will be returning to the Spring Fair at the NEC, Birmingham this February. Spring Fair is a retail trade exhibition held each February at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, UK. Spring Fair began in 1950 relocating to the NEC in 1976 and was opened by […]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s surprise visit to Design Group UK – Wales

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s surprise visit to Design Group UK – Wales on Wednesday 11th December 2019 provided a unique opportunity to showcase our World class UK design, manufacturing and export facilities in the lead-in to the recent UK General Election. Our Tom SmithTM range of Crackers and Roll Wrap, both enjoying the patronage of […]

Supporting the Trussell Trust

The IG Design Group UK Ltd trading company Polaris was delighted to present a cheque for over £30,000 to the Trussell Trust at the South West London Trussell Trust Warehouse in December. Paul Wilkes MD of Polaris commented “We are delighted with this donation which has come from the sales of the Tom Smith Branded […]

Protecting our environment is very important to IG Design Group UK.

IG Design Group UK creatively designs products that remove unnecessary materials and packaging. This is why we also invest in state-of-the-art, efficient manufacturing processes here in the United Kingdom, close to our customers, and only use responsibly sourced materials, including recycled materials, and with increasingly all of these materials being fully recyclable. We do manufacture […]

Frozen 2

Hot of the Press: Following the continuing success of Frozen 1, Design Group UK are delighted to present our new range of Frozen 2 products including Stationery, Arts & Crafts, Stickers, Gift Packaging & Instore Merchandising Solutions This exciting movie has translated in to beautifully designed product that captures the spirit of this Disney story. […]

‘Behind the Scenes – The development and journey of our Cute Characters this Christmas’

Design Group UK Creative Design Teams feature a broad range of highly skilled designers, across a variety of creative teams, focused by channel and market. Totalling 60 across our three sites in South Wales, Newport Pagnell and Stapleford, these teams comprise of an extensive range of expertise including Illustration, Graphic Design, Fashion, Photography, Animation and […]

World’s largest coffee morning.

Design Group UK are delighted to take part in the world’s largest coffee morning across its UK sites in support of Macmillan cancer where all donations will be given  to Macmillan Cancer Support. The team made some wonderful cakes, played games and really got into the spirite cake tasting! For further information on the great […]

National Gallery Delicious Art food gifting range is here

IG Design Group UK proudly supports the National Gallery, bringing examples of Britain’s proud National Heritage and Art to an exquisite range of everyday gifting products exclusively merchandised nationally in Boots The Boots National Gallery Delicious Art food gifting range has seen three highly successful seasons with a fourth season launching September 2019. Initially sold […]

FatFace takes a bite out of food gifting category

DG UK is very pleased to be working with Fat Face to produce a range exclusively designed for Boots, working closely with Fat Face using their amazing collection of hand-drawn prints to create the perfect lifestyle range of gift products capturing the sense of fun & adventure that makes FatFace what they are. In our […]

IG Design Group UK Ltd are delighted to retain the WWF 3 trees award.

At IG Design Group UK we believe in a progressive and inclusive approach that seeks to ensure our investments in Product, Processes, Supply Chain and our People delivers a business model and organisation culture truly committed to environmental sustainability to benefit our stakeholders, customers and the communities in which we operate both in the UK […]

Committed to being a sustainable business

We are committed to being a sustainable business, working collaboratively with our supply chain, customers, employees and community. We aim to minimise our impact on the environment in all aspects of our operations and influence positive & proactive change, fostering responsible environmental behaviour amongst our staff, suppliers, customers and users at all levels. IG Design […]

We are delighted to announce that IG Design Group UK is supplying Aldi with an exclusively-designed range of greeting cards.

We are delighted to announce that IG Design Group UK is supplying Aldi with an exclusively-designed range of greeting cards into approximately half of its UK stores. This news follows a two-phased extended greeting card trial which has spanned almost 100 Aldi stores. We are thrilled that our partnership and trial collaboration with a bespoke […]

Polaris is delighted to have teamed up with a very worthwhile charity for 2019, the Trussell Trust.

Polaris is a trading division of IG Design Group UK Ltd, Polaris is delighted to have teamed up with a very worthwhile charity for 2019, the Trussell Trust. The Trussell Trust’s aim is to end hunger and poverty in the UK. They support a nationwide network of food banks and together provide emergency food and support […]

Finalists for the Best Licensed Paper Products

We are delighted to be shortlisted as category finalists for the Best Licensed Paper Products / Stationery Range for our Elf Gift packaging range exclusively designed for Primark. The judging for the category took place at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium earlier this month. Over 4,000 licensed products were entered into the awards this year. Some 150 retail […]

Design Group Opens Brand New ‘Hand-Made’ Bag Manufacturing Facility

Design Group opens brand new ‘Hand-made’ bag manufacturing facility at our wholly-owned Factory at Huizhou, China. Lance Burn, Managing Director DGUK & Asia, participated in the traditional opening ceremony joining all employees in wishing prosperity and success to this substantial investment. The new 5-floor factory facility houses raw material storage, manufacturing and finished goods storage […]

Design Group UK Scoops ‘Seasonal Supplier of the Year’ Award

Design Group UK are delighted and proud to have recently been awarded the prestigious “Seasonal Supplier of the Year’ Award by Impact Wholesale Group. The Award was presented at Impact Wholesale Group Annual Gala Dinner. The coveted accolade was awarded to Design Group UK for product, service and innovation excellence. A big well done to […]

Striving towards environmental sustainability.

IG Design Group UK is contributing to the environmental sustainability of our planet through a holistic approach to responsible product design, material sourcing and manufacturing. We aim to maximise the effective and efficient use of resources, fostering responsible environmental behaviour amongst our staff, suppliers, customers and stakeholders. IG Design Group is ISO 14001 accredited that demonstrates […]

Over 150 activity and play-based products

Design Group UK have designed, developed and brought-to-market over 150 activity and play-based products, encouraging learning through play and creativity. Most recently we have launched a new range of Kids play products, combining trend-led design and test-certified safe-to-use product innovation to create really fun, interactive toys. The commercial team provide our studios with frontline insight […]

Tom Smith is leading the way on sustainable solutions.

Tom Smith, owned by IG Design Group UK Ltd, is a premium global brand in Christmas Greetings Products, including crackers, wrapping paper, greetings cards & accessories. Tom Smith has held a Royal Warrant since 1906 for the supply of Christmas Crackers and specifically to The Sovereign since the reign of King George V. The rich […]

Paper Twist Carrier Bags from Design Group UK

Design Group UK Ltd, a long established design-house and manufacturer of gift-packaging solutions supplying major UK and International retailers, operates wholly owned state-of-the-art production facilities in South Wales – UK and Huizhou – China. Complementing our hand-made paper bag manufacturing in China is our current investments in two high speed paper twist handle bag manufacturing […]

Best Brand Licensed Gifting Product or Range

We are so pleased to announce that we have been nominated in the Best Brand Licensed Gifting Product or Range at this years B&LLA Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards 2019. We are delighted to say that the National Gallery gifting range has been nominated as a finalist. Our Delicious Art range by the National Gallery […]

Take a look at our Biggest and best ever Spring Fair 2019

Design Group UK exhibited at this year’s Spring Fair 2019 NEC for the 25th year running. We were proud to show off our brand new exhibit showcasing for the first time, every category we offer across the whole group, something that has never been done before. Design Group UK’s stand located in Hall 12 boasting […]

Bigger & Better than ever!!

Design Group UK are returning to the Spring Fair this year in a new position with an all new stand! Please visit us in Hall 12 Stand F10-G11, February 2nd to 7th. We will be showcasing our ranges of gift packaging, stationery and creative play products. Come and see our new 2019 Giftmaker and Tom […]

Design Group UK brings you “the golden experience” by Ferrero Rocher in a Christmas cracker

Following the continuing success of Nutella food gifts into the UK market , Design Group UK are delighted to extend their collaboration with the Ferrero Group. This winter Design Group UK will launch exclusive Ferrero Rocher and Raffaello gift crackers in both Debenhams and Sainsbury. Thereafter the products will be launched to other UK retailers at the […]

IG Design Group UK is trialling a fully bespoke, turnkey, single greetings card and gift packaging solution within Aldi UK.

IG Design Group UK [Design Group UK] is trialling a fully bespoke, turnkey, single greetings card and gift packaging solution within Aldi UK. The range will be displayed on a dedicated fixture in 10 trial stores containing 107 everyday card designs and 12 coordinated gift wrap and gift bag lines. The trial is set to […]

Managing Director Lance Burn on BBC world news Talking Business discussing all things crackers

Watch our managing director Lance Burn on BBC world news Talking Business discussing all things crackers.  

Design Group UK staff raising funds for UK National Armed Forces Day

An air of the 1940’s War Time spirit was evident last Friday at Design Group UK Wales. To the background wail of a World War II air raid siren Ladies donned period costume and served tea & cakes to raise money for the UK National Armed Forces Day charities. Best costume was won by Page […]

All Change: New Studio at Newport Pagnell

A look behind the scenes at our newly decorated creative design studio based at our Newport Pagnell offices. A friendly creative environment and a great place to work. The Newport Pagnell studio has been going for approximately 40 years. The new studio is a real move on and a space in which we are proud […]

Hot of the Press: New Frames, Plaques and Albums Portfolio

We are delighted to present our new ranges of photo frames, plaques and photo albums. Designed at our ‘in house’ studio, our products reflect the latest trends in the designs and mouldings whilst continuing to offer great quality and value. Ensuring we keep ahead of our competitors, the totally refreshed catalogue design is a big […]