HAVE you ever received a gift which came in a box too nice to throw away?

If so, it could well have been made by Tom Wakeling and his team in Brightlingsea.

Tom, 33, who owns Luxury Box, saved his grandfather’s business after he was forced to sell it.

Fast forward and the company is now thriving, and has even been featured on national television.

In June 1986, Tom’s grandfather, Tom Fryer, moved his gift box factory to Clacton. He had taken over from the original owner of M Fish Packaging, who opened the first gift box factory in Hackney in 1885.

However, through no fault of his own, after about 30 years in the business his grandfather was forced to sell it, and sadly redundancies followed.

Gazette:

The business was taken over by another owner who attempted to manage it for a further nine years, but sales started to slump.

In 2015, Tom decided to take over the business and renamed it Luxury Box, wanting to make a fresh start.

They have just moved to a new office in Morses Lane, Brightlingsea, and the future is rosy.

Tom said: “I changed the name as while it was called M Fish, people thought we made boxes for fish.

“There’s a lot of growth happening over the next few years. I wanted to show my grandad I can bring something new to the table.

“Ever since I was a little boy I would take up the opportunity to go and help at the factory, playing with the materials.

“It was always something I wanted to do and I had worked my way up from sweeping the floors.”

He has also taken on 12 full time members of staff who were originally made redundant from the factory when it closed.

The business has worked with companies such as Fortnum & Mason, who make luxury hampers.

It also works with most chocolatiers in the UK, as well as Merry Thought, one of the oldest teddy bear manufacturers in the country.

Mr Wakeling said the company was lucky enough to work with Channel 4 recently. He said: “We made a box for one of the gifts on a Channel 4 programme called The World’s Most Expensive Presents.

“The box was for a £40,000 dress for a dog.

“It was nice to see the box featured on TV.”

His company, which has grown from four staff to 28, has also made gift boxes for the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson’s family and friends.

They have recently sponsored the shirts for Frinton and Walton Junior Football Club.

He said one thing which made the business special was its low carbon footprint.

He added: “Our biggest things is how environmentally friendly we are. All our materials are recycled.

“The aim was to bring back luxury packaging that was affordable, as people were having their gift boxes made in China.

“We wanted to show everyone we could do the same thing here, we are Great Britain after all, and we have years of experience in this game.”