John Dorlini embodies the holistic design approach by holding Virginia licenses in Interior Design, Architecture, and Contracting (Class A). He co-owns CIRCLE Design Studio with his wife Theresa, founded in 2005 as a private development company in Staunton, but now operates in Roanoke as a six-person design-build firm and generalist practice serving as prime or consultant in many sectors: residential, multi-family, hospitality, retail, healthcare, higher ed, ecclesiastic, and corporate.
With a specialty in clean-lined modern aesthetics, CIRCLE is the recipient of 37 Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEAS), and four-time winner of Brightest IDEAS, for the Virginia/ West Virginia chapters of ASID and IIDA. In 2020, John was named to the Sun Devil 100, awarded to the fastest-growing businesses owned by Arizona State University alumni.
John received his MArch at ASU and a B.S. in Art and Interior Design at James Madison University. John is currently Visiting Professor at Virginia Tech teaching third-year interior design studio. Prior work stints include RRMM Architects, VMDO Architects, Andrea Clark Brown Architects (Naples, FL), and a summer internship with Daniel Libeskind in Berlin. John was LEED administrator for the first LEED Gold school in Southwest Virginia, Masons Cove Elementary School (Roanoke County).