Why "Ablo" ?
Why “Ablo”, then? The choice of the name “Ablo” is connected to a peculiar event: one day, Henry walked into León on a particularly cheeky photo set. Despite his astonishment at the discovery of León’s hidden passion, and the embarrassment that ensued right after, Henry decided to keep quiet, leaving a note for León, reassuring him he wouldn’t expose him to his sister.
"Tranquilo, no ablo."
signed Henry M.
Henry’s misspelling, writing “no (h)ablo” was forgotten at first, but it was subsequently chosen as a name for the company that the two men set up — Henry and León’s first collaboration.
Original sheet of Henry message. 25/07/1967 (©Ablo archives)
Films, Cartridge and Camera
Ablo initially started producing film for third parties, at least until the birth of Colormas, the film color processing that was also Ablo’s first product. Colormas’s peculiar color quality created its own niche within the move industry, becoming a favorite for lo-fi erotica and horror movie productions at the time.
When 8mm film formats became commonplace, Ablo produced universal cartridges that integrated the Colormas color profile. Considering the success of this new format, Ablo also decided to produce an entirely automatic small camera, for home recording, naming it Ablomatica. This high-range camera became very popular and was mostly distributed in the USA.
In the early 1980s, Ablo fell from grace, bringing its passion and innovation down with it — Ablo was perhaps too avant-garde and not commercial enough for those hectic times.
