About Brian Sholdt

After 41 years of bringing his art to the jewelry industry, Brian is following his passion of painting. He always had an appreciation for cultivated things. The encouragement from his parents to draw came from his mother enjoying sketching and his father designing and building homes. He spent his childhood on his dad’s job sites, savoring the smell of freshly sawn wood.

When he turned 13, Brian began working as a delivery boy in his grandfather’s jewelry shop in downtown Seattle. He was immediately immersed in the world of jewelry manufacturing. He drew jewelry designs during lunch and in the evenings. He realized that making things filled a place in his heart like nothing else. After college he decided to use his professional jewelry skills to be a jewelry designer. He won several AGTA Spectrum awards and a Debeers Diamonds Today award. He eventually took over ownership of Sholdt Design. However, in the back of his mind, he still wanted to do 2-D art. Brian realized that jewelry was a technical trade/craft and art is more expressive activity that requires using ones depth of character to enter the stage.

Sholdt Design is now owned by Brian’s daughter Kalee, a 4th generation fine jewelry design firm and manufacturer that sells to boutiques nation wide. The showroom is located in the Old Rainier Brewery in SODO Seattle. His long engagement in the jewelry field was the experience  he needed to prepare for being a full time artist. Life experience is a gift that vastly expands an artist’s depth. In his mind, having an end game and creating a new road map to artistic success recharged his drive.