In 1988, founding partners, Martin Darbyshire and Clive Grinyer identified the need for a product design group built on a new business model. They planned to design products that met genuine consumer needs and delivered demonstrable difference. It was a belief that product design aligned to their clients' overall business objectives could make a tangible contribution to business.

Jonathan Ive and Peter Philips joined them and a thriving business was established. Three of the partners have since moved on, most notably Jonathan Ive, now Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple in California. Meanwhile, Martin Darbyshire continued to grow the business with Mike Woods, Matt Round and Don Tae Lee joining the team.

Tangerine is now a limited company with studios in London and Seoul. All four key personnel are shareholders of the business. In November 2005 Don Tae Lee was appointed co-president of Tangerine.

Over the years, Tangerine has remained true to its founding principles. Whether conducting research, preparing design guidelines or developing actual products, Tangerine always considers the broader business context of a project.