Fungal Focus founder Katie Lawson
Fungal Focus founder Katie Lawson - As the founder of Fungal Focus, Katie Lawson seeks to support and expand SLC’s mushroom community by providing grow kits and workshops to the public. “The more people that have the fungal piece of the puzzle, the more complete of a picture we can make," Lawson says.
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Fungal Focus: Craft Lake City DIY Engineer

By
August 3, 2022

Community

With the largest number of vendors to date, The 14th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons returns to the Utah State Fairpark with an exciting variety of homegrown DIY-ers. In the following pages, we’ve highlighted some craft foodies, inventors, performers, vintage curators and members of the next generation of artisans that will be participating in this year’s bustling event. Check out craftlakecity.com for more information about The 14th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival.

After attending community mycology workshops, Lawson realized that she wanted to expand on that knowledge and formed Fungal Focus.
Photo: John Barkiple

While mushrooms might not have all the answers to fighting climate change, Katie Lawson believes that the fungal perspective needs to be considered. As the founder of Fungal Focus, Lawson seeks to support and expand SLC’s mushroom community by providing grow kits and workshops to the public. “We simply can’t make comprehensive and effective policies and decisions to protect our environment without a foundational understanding of fungal ecology,” she says. “The more people that have the fungal piece of the puzzle, the more complete of a picture we can make.”

Lawson had been working on vegetable farms since 2011, but it wasn’t until 2016 that she realized she was “missing out on something really important.” After attending community mycology workshops, Lawson realized that she wanted to expand on that knowledge and formed Fungal Focus. She intentionally chose “fungal” in order to keep her options open: “There are so many different aspects of mycology and routes you could take. The real challenge is staying on track and giving adequate time and energy to each project,” she says.

Fungal Focus has a number of projects and hopes to continue to scale up: “A lot of the possibilities that fungi have to offer are beyond the scope of what one person can realistically do,” Lawson says. “I’ve found joining forces with like-minded people to be incredibly powerful.” She’s ready to talk to people of all skill and interest levels at the DIY Festival. Visit fungalfocusutah.com to learn more.

Read about more past Craft Lake City DIY engineers:
Brainstorm Gaming: Craft Lake City DIY Engineer
Sunzeecar: Craft Lake City DIY Engineer