Will Wright and Mark Orton, of KPMG, were appointed as joint administrators of The Artful Group on 28 June 2010, citing a "huge" drop in consumer demand for the closure.

The company, which had a London office and a production site in Northampton, was a publisher of contemporary wall art and greetings cards. Pyramid International has not taken on either of the facilities.

Some former employees of AG have already been taken on by Pyramid International and the company said that it hoped that more former staff could be reemployed.

Pyramid International managing director Ally Mayer said: "I am extremely pleased at the opportunity to be involved with such a market-leading company and hope to be able to develop The Art Group name in both the wall art and greetings card markets at an international level.

"Key positions in the new venture will hopefully be offered to former staff, to help drive the new venture and continue the fantastic work that they achieved in such difficult circumstances previously.

"The wall art business will now be developed by the Pyramid team and it is hoped that the nucleus of the designers will remain in place.

The greetings card arm of the business will be jointly run alongside greetings card distribution company Is It Art?, which has brought in former AG sales director John Sutton.

AG's US arm in Yonkers, New York will be supported by Pyramid International's US base, which is also based in Yonkers.

It is also hoped that work will continue with AG's existing artists and licences.

Pyramid International started out as a poster printer, Pyramid Posters, in 1992, but changed its name to Pyramid International in February 2009 to signify its growth abroad and movement into wider markets.

Plant and machinery remains to be sold.