In mid-summer 2025, Culture Vultures confirmed and paid for a natural dye workshop with The Anou as part of Textile Quest, a two-week journey exploring Morocco’s textile artisanship and craft culture. The session, to be led by The Anou team in their Fez hub, was designed to connect heritage with innovation.
At the same time, a return visit to the Atlas Wool Supply (AWS) mill in the High Atlas, directed by Dan Driscoll, founder of The Anou, was being arranged. Despite emails, messages, and an in-person inquiry, no reply came.
Then, on October 2nd 2025, after months of silence, an unexpected email arrived from Dan Driscoll. Rather than addressing the pending visit, it introduced a new condition: that continued collaboration depended on a Fez Riads boutique stocking AWS’s eco-soap line. The proposal, which our director Jess Stephens had facilitated independently of Culture Vultures, had been dropped earlier in the summer when terms proved unsuitable for the Riad, yet the message reframed this as grounds to suspend future Culture Vultures collaborations.
Email correspondence from Dan Drissol of the Atlas Wool Supply to Culture Vultures
Correspondence a few hours later initated by Hamze D Ouezzane, director of The Anou
A few hours later, a second message followed from Hamza Cherif D’Ouezzan, Director of The Anou, expanding the accusation. He criticized Culture Vultures’ intermediary role, calling it part of a “middleman model” that reinforced white colonial systems and harmed Moroccan artisanship. The demand: that all residencies, workshops, and visits run directly through The Anou and until which any collaborations or bookings were again in jeopardy..
What had begun as months of silence concluded in a single thread of accusation and conditionality, not dialogue, no questions, but an unrealistic ultimatum.
The images below are the only record Culture Vultures can find of the social media that Hamza Cherif D’Ouezzan is referring to Culture Vultures commented on a carpet shop image stating ‘Viva Amazigh.’ He has been asked to show others to clarify, but has yet to come forward.
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.
If any details in this record differ from the recollections or archives of The Anou, the Atlas Wool Supply, or participants of this endeavor, Culture Vultures welcomes clarification and correction so that the historical record remains accurate and fair.
