This post serves as a transparent record of the ongoing dialogue between Culture Vultures, The Anou, and The Atlas Wool Supply, following a professional disagreement in early October 2025. The purpose is not to inflame but to clarify. Posts are shared as they unfold, inviting respectful conversation. Access is by invitation only.
Products by Tizuzaf (with profile) at Boutique Laroussa
Dan Drissol, Founder of Atals Wool Supply and the Anou, presenting to Textile Quest group May 2025
One Step Backwards
In the beginning of this year, Culture Vultures director and artist/culture coordinator, Jess Stephens, was invited to support Riad Laaroussa as a freelance consultant for their small in-house boutique; a project designed to showcase designers and artisans who are Moroccan or based in Morocco. The boutique operates on an ethical, non-profit basis, highlighting each creator’s story and contact information to encourage guests to engage directly for bespoke or wholesale orders. Riad Laaroussa itself has a long held a strong, yet quiet, commitment to ecological and sustainable practices, extending from its care for its staff to its choice of products and partnerships.
Two Steps Forward
During this process, Jess contacted Atlas Wool Supply (AWS) about their natural cleaning products and soaps, believing they would suit Riad Laaroussa’s environmentally conscious ethos. The idea was a modest collaboration, separate from Culture Vultures programming, and consistent with the boutique’s focus on thier sustainable approach.
The outcome was, AWS’s director, Dan Driscoll, introduced a condition; that the riad must first convert to AWSs soap and detergetns before offering them for sale in Boutique LAroussa. When this proved unsuitable, the idea was dropped. Two months later, Dan reframed the decision as grounds to suspend Culture Vultures’ forthcoming collaboration with Atlas Wool Supply and The Anou.
One of the owners of Riad Laaroussa, wrote a few days after Dans accusations, to clarify the situation. She copied Jess in her email, to which Dan immediately replied directly to Laroussas owner, (excluding Jess from the response) writing: “Sorry for the confusion. I misread the situation. No worries at all. All my best, Dan.”
You can read Riad Laroussa’s email and Dan Drissols response in this hyper link…
As of today, one week has passed since Dans and Hamzas original emails, and Jess’ immediate responses. No direct communication has been received from either Dan Drissol, of AWS or Hamza Cherif D’Ouezzane of The Anou, despite our immediate request to Hamza for evidence supporting his accusation that Culture Vultures endorses white colonial business practices and in doing so jeopardizes artisan livelihoods.
If any details in this record differ from the recollections or archives of The Anou, AWS or Culture Vultures community, we welcome clarification and correction so that the historical record remains accurate and fair.
