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Meet Matthew Swift and Tatiana Chandee of Lion’s Mane – Equipment & Supply

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Swift and Tatiana Chandee.

Matthew has always had an affinity for fungi, studying them from a young age. In his early 20s, he started foraging and identifying edible mushrooms growing on the Front Range of Colorado. Finding bounties of chanterelles, boletes, and hawks wings – the thrill of the wild mushroom hunt inspired him to further his knowledge and studies, pushing him to become an amateur mycologist.

He took on an apprenticeship with a master carpenter at this time as well, shaping his professional trajectory as a builder and woodworker. Matt honed his passion and expertise towards fine woodworking – furniture design and crafting. In this, his teacher, boss, and master carpenter introduced him to spalted wood: wood that is naturally stained and streaked from particular strains of fungi such as Chlorociboria. Pigments from the mycelium stain and streak wood shades of pinks, purple, and blue – and is renowned for retaining their natural, lustrous colors over centuries. It is traditionally harvested by hand via downed trees in a forest with fungal activity. Matt learned to cultivate this particular fungi and spalt his own wood for projects, instead of having to wild-collect this wood.

Tatiana has also historically had an affinity for fungi. She found them to be an interesting study as decomposers and their functions in the world – as well as enjoying and experiencing a variety of mushrooms in culinary pursuits. Although her passion didn’t extend to the in-depth study of fungi like Matthew, her passion and expertise in organization and leadership lead her on a professional path to project management and entrepreneurship within the music and events industry.

Through forming a transportation logistics company geared towards music festivals and other events, Tatiana learned to navigate owning, operating and managing a small business firsthand. She competitively acquired multiple contracts with festivals throughout the year for three years – running transportation at festivals focusing on artists and talent, and managing large crews – prior to engaging in this new venture featured here, Lion’s Mane – Equipment & Supply in Denver, CO.

Matthew and Tatiana are partners in business, love, and life. With their combined enthusiasm, skill sets, multitasking ability, adaptability and focus – the goal of success for their company (in whatever forms that may look like) is surely attainable. Lion’s Mane is 100% family-owned, invested, and operated to ensure the highest level of integrity. From the formation of the company, finding the commercial space, through designation of business and zoning, to building out the shop space, ordering products for inventory, and management of daily logistics and operations – Tatiana and Matthew handle almost all of the demands of their fledgling small business themselves.

Has it been a smooth road?
Being pretty stubborn and resilient people, we don’t let much get in our way. Some struggles and roadblocks along the way have been: finding an affordable space and attaining it; making sure that everything is up to code with the space so that we can operate in it without too much extra expense; fundraising and financing for a brand new venture without the framework of a similar existing store to reference; marketing strategy, an area of expertise new to us both; and handling the sheer volume of “things that need to be done” for our business while continuing to work other part-time and contracted positions in venues, events, and carpentry respectively.

The knowledge of fungi research and cultivation, experience of managing and owning a business, ability to design and build out the space, and network of professional and skilled colleagues and friends provided ease and smoothness on our bumpy road.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Lion’s Mane – Equipment & Supply – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Open in December 2019, Lion’s Mane is Denver’s premier fungi literature, equipment, and supply store dedicated to mycology and cultivation. Curious, but don’t know where to start? Experienced and need a shop that offers all the supplies that you need in one place? Lion’s Mane’s products meet the needs of budding enthusiasts, amateur hobbyists, and savvy experts alike. Offering: books and magazines spanning a wide range of topics relating to fungi and cultivation; all equipment needed for indoor and outdoor cultivation, as well as lab equipment for spore & tissue propagation; and supplies needed for your mushroom project to be successful! In addition to offering fungi cultivation products, Lion’s Mane initially hosted bi-monthly tutorial classes and introductions on various pieces of equipment offered; the classes will be restructured to video form. The shop is a trusted source for specialized literature, equipment, and supply needs for the Denver myco-curious and mycophilic community.

Lion’s Mane is set apart by being the first brick-and-mortar business of its kind. While there have been many different stores that carry the various products needed for mycology research and fungi cultivation, there has yet to be one store offering all of the resources necessary to grow and research mushrooms of all kinds under one roof. There are online shops that have compiled much of the gear that is needed to grow and research fungi for food and holistic medicine. But Lion’s Mane stands to be the first and only locally-owned brick-and-mortar shop that one could walk into to acquire all of the literature, equipment, and supplies needed for any mycology project. Curating the most trusted, comprehensive, and innovative products needed for this community at the best prices that we can set, is what we are most proud of as a company – while following our code of ethics pledged in our business plan. We are also especially proud of our ability to adapt and pivot in these uncertain times by offering curbside pickup, local delivery, and shipment. Lion’s Mane-designed and patented products as well as an online store were developed while we were closed during the Stay-at-Home order. The products are now available for purchase and the online store is live!

What role has luck (good luck or bad luck) played in your life and business?
Scoping commercial space for rent is a huge and intimidating task. There are many questions and items to consider – how much do we want to pay for how much space? What spaces are available in what neighborhoods? Will this location be fruitful for our business? We were not starting out with much, but when we found this location through unconventional means, we knew it was the perfect fit. The element of luck really shone through here in finding this great space in the RiNo Arts District of Five Points.

The overall luck that we have had in our lives relating to this business is that we make an efficient, passionate, and complementary team. In addition to being compatible in love and friendship, we feel there is an element of luck that we are strong business partners as well. As for likes and dislikes – we LOVE Denver!

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Image Credit:
Charla Harvey
Eddie Martens

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