Grabo Finds Yet Another Market for Their Portable Suction Cups: Riggers

Rigging is the art and science of hanging equipment, like lighting or cameras, for film or stage production. It involves erecting sturdy supports and mechanically attaching equipment to them, which sounds low-tech. But it's a field that technology is having a major advancement on. First Pipe Lighting changed the game with their inflatable, lightweight LED lights, which offer a massive amount of lumens with minimal rigging. Now Grabo, a company that makes portable suction tools used by the construction industry, has drawn the attention of riggers. Grabo's eponymous product provides a convenient handle for lifting heavy, flat things like plywood sheets, stone pavers and glass: Now the company shrewdly offers a universal Attachment Plate that features a variety of threaded ports. As the company surmised, this enabled those with unmet needs to find new uses (and thus a bigger market) for their tool. Cinematographer Wiki Feng was filming a commercial that required overhead lighting. But the apartment setting would not accommodate the wall spreader (overhead bars that span from wall to wall) on which to hang his lighting. He thus used a Grabo with the Attachment Plate: "The strength and reliability of these electric suction cups, [which] can be triggered automatically or manually to maintain its pressure, is insane. These also are so gentle with the surfaces you work with." While the construction market is large enough to maintain a good business, Grabo's Attachment Plate will open up entirely new markets for them.