Maker record
Pepe
PEPE is a Portuguese toy brand whose production began under that name in 1977, when Joaquim and Valdemar Penela took over their father José Augusto Júnior’s business. The company had earlier made toys from tinplate and wood, then added plastic toys in 1955 under the JATO name. PEPE continued the family’s toy production, with plastic injection technology added after the business returned to Alfena in 1983. The range included reissued models.
- Founded
- 1946
- Countries
- Portugal
- Locations
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Founders
- Armando Jos Fernandes Pedro
The story of Pepe
José Augusto Júnior began making toys in Alfena in the early 1930s, after learning the craft from his father, Augusto José. His business, the Fábrica de Brinquedos de Folha e Madeira de Alfena, later used the JAJ mark. Júnior travelled to Nuremberg to study toy production and introduced metal-strip clockwork mechanisms, which the Alfena parish history describes as the first use of this mechanism by a Portuguese manufacturer. During the Second World War, material shortages led the factory to reuse tin from food cans.
In 1946, Júnior moved production to nearby Ermesinde and established new premises. As the business mechanised, it took the name A Industrial de Quinquilharias de Ermesinde. In 1955 it began making plastic toys as JATO, while retaining tinplate for some components; friction drives also came into use. In 1977, Júnior handed the business to his sons Joaquim and Valdemar Penela, who continued production under the PEPE name. The company returned to Alfena in 1983 and invested in plastic-injection technology. The parish history records that the business later became Bruplast and made reissues of earlier models.
