Lichens are famous as partnerships between fungi and algae, yet after more than a century of trying, mycologists still do not have a reliable “lab lichen” that can be rebuilt from known parts. In this talk, I will take you behind the scenes of my graduate research on lichen resynthesis, from historical experiments with spores on agar plates to modern questions about potential hidden partners, new layers to the basis of the lichen symbionts’ relationships and what is still needed to be understood to grow a lichen thallus.