Cass Dotzel, a NYC-based artist and designer

who specializes in textiles, illustration, painting, and styling, was born in Daegu, South Korea, and was raised on the North Fork of Long Island, New York.

She uses her diverse upbringing and aspirations to tell a unique visual story.

Cass has cultivated a broad range of skills from working as a plastic specialist in classic car restoration to working as a design assistant in high-end leather goods, to working as a textile designer and stylist for costume design and then at different studios for home and hospitality design; Cass is constantly working to grow in eclectic experience as an all-around design unicorn.

She studied textile design, costuming, and fashion theory at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, as well as Textile Design and Fashion theory with a specialization in screen printing and digital production techniques at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. 

From there, Cass went on to study under artisans across Rajasthan, India to learn traditional crafting methods to create textiles. Cass was placed in a design competition back in Melbourne and returned for a second stay to complete a work placement for the textile design studio at Linen House Australia then also studied traditional watercolor techniques from a Vietnamese painter in Hanoi before returning to the States.

Through the assimilation of a multitude of cultures and learning various techniques, Cass has honed her abilities to draw inspiration from and adapt to her surroundings. Cass completed the accelerated one-year textile surface degree, previously earned a business degree, and graduated from FIT with a BFA in Textile/Surface Design and a minor in Fashion Theory.  She interned while in school and then worked at Flavor Paper in Brooklyn for years. 

Cass now runs her own freelance design company, C. Dotz Design, as well as a boutique art and boutique lifestyle brand called WAYF NYC where she will continue her exploration through the art of multicultural identity and sub-culture.