LOTUS TRUMPETS & MOUTHPIECES ARE SIMPLY EASIER TO PLAY
THEY OFFER YOU AN INCREDIBLE SOUND, IMPROVED ACCURACY, AND THE SECURITY TO TAKE GREATER RISKS
ENJOY A STRONGER SENSE OF CONFIDENCE AND HAVE MORE FUN PLAYING THAN EVER BEFORE
LOTUS TRUMPETS & MOUTHPIECES ARE SIMPLY EASIER TO PLAY
THEY OFFER YOU AN INCREDIBLE SOUND, IMPROVED ACCURACY, AND THE SECURITY TO TAKE GREATER RISKS
ENJOY A STRONGER SENSE OF CONFIDENCE AND HAVE MORE FUN PLAYING THAN EVER BEFORE
The LOTUS Team
We're a pretty unconventional company, and that’s what makes us so special.
LOTUS is an international team of partners committed to making some of the best, easiest playing instruments in the world.
ADAM RAPA
HENRIK GRAHN
Our two main owners, Adam Rapa and
Henrik Grahn are, respectively, an
American living in the Netherlands and
a Swede living in, well, Sweden.
The LOTUS operation looks quite different
from other manufacturers, which gives us
much more flexibility to produce trumpets &
mouthpieces of impeccable quality.
Without a centralized base of operations, our entire team works remotely,
since well before that became a thing.
NICOLÒ PERINA
Our head engineer, Nicolò Perina lives
in Venice, and our head of customer service,
Charley Wagner is an American living
in Switzerland. Both Nicolò and Charley own a piece of LOTUS as well.
That's the very definition of an owner-operated "virtual office" spread across four countries.
CHARLEY WAGNER
ABOUT OUR TRUMPETS
Our 1st generation trumpets were
developed with Andy Taylor & Matt Martin in England. Early on, the horns
were being handmade in Andy's shop,
aside from our customized MAW valve
block, produced by Meinlschmidt in Germany.
We're now making 2nd Generation
LOTUS Trumpets, which are very different beasts. Working with companies across Europe that specialize in particular
aspects of our operation brings us the highest quality products and services
available.
Our glorious bells are now made by Bernd Sandner in Germany.
We're also working with master machinist
Marco Febbrari in Brescia, Italy for all our machined parts: leadpipes, receivers,
braces, etc.
Marco's machined parts have made a huge difference in how well our horns play, which is a very exciting upgrade.
Our assembly is impeccably done by
Mateusz Zeszut & Mikołaj Durka at
ZM Concept in Poland.
In the USA, our trumpets are assembled at Collins Music Center in Houston, Texas.
Our extended team includes various
European companies for services like
scanning & 3D printing, and consultants
such as renowned acoustic physicist,
professor Gregor Widholm in Vienna. Meanwhile, Mark Schwartz, "accountant
to the trumpet stars" lends his expertise
to our financial and legal needs from the
comfort of his home in Arizona.
In the 21st century, geography is no
barrier. Actually, the distance greatly improves our ability to assemble an
all-star team. And our circle grows
everyday with each new LOTUS owner
or dealer who falls in love with our instruments, some of whom inevitably
bring new ideas and requests;
itches that we take pride in scratching
for you.
You can try a LOTUS Trumpet at your local dealer. If they don't yet have any trumpets on hand, talk to them and ask them to buy LOTUS trumpets so you can try them.
Another option is to make use of our no-risk return policy, to try a LOTUS trumpet for a whole week in your home, on your gigs, wherever you like.
We hope you'll join us on this international adventure by trying our horns today!
ABOUT OUR MOUTHPIECES
MEET THE A-TEAM
To design our mouthpieces, we worked
with the phenomenal team of historical
brass instrument specialists, Egger in
Switzerland, who also manufactured the
mouthpieces for us until earlier this year.
Rainer Egger, Gert Friedel & Ralf
Masurat are a dream team, and it's been
a huge honor getting to work with them
as an extension of our team, while
leading their efforts in producing
something quite different from what they
were accustomed. Our combined
expertise produces magical results.
Nicolo is a fellow obsessive nerd of the
highest order. He's a skilled engineer and
trumpet player, and from our first chat,
I knew he was the perfect person with whom to do this work. He's young, already had a great deal of knowledge, and he's full of questions, imagination and he's fantastic at finding solutions.
It's been a very busy year... And while my
partner Henrik Grahn has deserved the
MVP award every day since the beginning
of LOTUS Trumpets, this year's award
goes to Nicolò Perina, who aced the
herculean task of seeing the bulk of our manufacturing moved to Italy.
Now that we're over the finish line, Marco
Febbrari in Italy is also producing our
2nd Generation LOTUS Mouthpieces.
Our goal has always been to bring
impeccable quality mouthpieces to as
many people as possible. Marco's incredible shop allows us to drastically reduce our production cost while improving manufacturing quality.
This move lets us fulfill our mission of
making cutting edge, artisanal mouthpieces available at a price even
suitable for children, yet designed to
turbo-charge the greatest of performers.
There should be no 'barrier to entry' for anyone to have a mouthpiece that really does make the job easier.
That mouthpiece should be the standard from Day 1.
The challenge is... How and where to
produce them at the right price, at scale,
without the common problems of
inconsistency in mass production,
or the ethical concerns of exploiting
low-wage workers?
Enter Nicolo Perina & Marco Febbrari 🏆
For our mouthpiece relaunch, we've
done a lot more than just change
manufacturers. We've spent an
outrageous amount of time and money
on optimizing our designs, introducing
new models and updating all of our existing models.
We've added material options, and
incorporated the most common requests
and feedback we've received. These are
undoubtedly better mouthpieces,
and we are in LOVE with them!
We're also happy to unveil a series of
mouthpieces created to breathe new life
into your flugelhorn.
Yup, busy year indeed. (Good thing all of our gigs disappeared...)
MEET THE A-TEAM
ADAM
RAPA
Main Owner
Apart from his skills as a trumpet player and educator, Adam has also played a leading role in designing our gear.
He has the unique distinction of being the only master trumpeter also at the helm of a trumpet company, which is reflected in the quality of our products.
In a play-testing situation, Adam is the team's cyborg. He can perceive the effect of even the tiniest adjustment and detect even the slightest issues with incredible accuracy.
Adam plays a Rapa 4-valve Universal Max Trumpet as his primary instrument, but occasionally plays all of our models, and uses every mouthpiece cup type we've got.
HENRIK
GRAHN
CEO
Henrik has been Adam's right hand man from the start of LOTUS. He's managing the finances, strategizing, editing videos, and acting as a Swiss Army Knife, doing whatever is most needed in the company.
Henrik was a student of Adam's for many years before joining arms for the purpose of making the easiest playing trumpet gear in the world with LOTUS.
"I have a dream that beginners will be able to start their trumpet playing paths with the gear and education that will allow them to express themselves and share joy with their music"
He is playing our Universal Max Trumpet and a 3M mouthpiece.
NICOLÒ
PERINA
Head Engineer
Nicolò Perina is a an ideal collaborator in our pursuit of creating groundbreaking musical equipment. Both a trumpet player as well as an engineer & designer, his input is invaluable, his ambitions are huge, and he's willing to work tirelessly towards those goals.
We're all very glad he was so insistant on moving our manufacturing to Italy, because all the work he did to make that happen has led to our products being better than ever, and undoubtedly opened the door for us to accomplish even more amazing things in the future.
He's playing our Solo Model
Trumpet and a 2M mouthpiece.
CHARLEY
WAGNER
Head of Customer Service
Charley joined the team shortly after meeting Adam on a tour with Youngblood Brass Band. Adam handed him a LOTUS
horn & prototype mouthpiece at the first rehearsal, and Charley was an instant convert. No joke.
He introduced Adam to Egger Brass Instruments in Basel where Lotus Mouthpieces 1.0 were born, and was there play-testing (an obscene amount) with Adam every step of the way throughout their development.
Charley now manages our customer service & assist Henrik on sales and is a fountain of good advice and good vibes.
He plays our Universal Trumpet and a 1XL2HC, 3L2HC, 3M2HC, 3SHC and 3XS, all in Brass.
A Promise To You From Adam Rapa:
"Working with such a wonderful team, united with the purpose of creating the world's greatest trumpets is a dream come true. It's been an unparalleled pleasure considering every single detail of each horn in our arsenal, and designing many of the features that set LOTUS Trumpets apart.
I've been obsessing over the smallest details of my equipment for decades, and I've had the great fortune of working with some of the brightest minds in the business. Now, with the LOTUS team, we're bringing to life what I consider to be the ultimate trumpets.
For me, this adventure began as a musician wanting to own my dream trumpets. And really, that's how it will always be. Every horn we make and sell is a horn I would be proud to personally own. I make every final decision regarding the design of our horns, and I do it by play-testing in controlled experiments that lead to clear answers about what works best for myself and others.
You have my personal guarantee that there will never be a single difference between the LOTUS trumpets in my case and the LOTUS trumpets in yours. And you'll never find a player with a higher standard than mine. Rest assured, I will always be committed to providing for us both the absolute best possible gear. Period.