Throughout the 80’s local jewelry retailers moved towards doing repairs in-house, and Sholdt had to adapt. Brian and Dusty began augmenting their repair work with a small custom line known as “Rain City Rings”. Brian took the reigns as designer, and Dusty stepped up from the workbench to oversee operations. To give their line a more personal feel, the name was soon changed to Sholdt.

Because Sholdt employed its own shop - a rare thing in the trade - the designs were done with the input of the craftsmen that would later build them. The resulting wedding rings seemed a perfect blend of artistry, beauty, and emotion. Customers and critics embraced them, and in the years that followed Sholdt was honored with several important design awards, including the AGTA Spectrum Award on four separate occasions - once as Best of Show - and the prestigious DeBeers Diamonds Today Award.

“Winning Best of Show that year was huge,” says Brian. “I think that’s when we went from being just a repair shop to being an honest-to-goodness design house.”

As sales of the line grew and orders came in, the need for experienced jewelers also increased. Though often pressed to keep up with the workload, Brian and Dusty remained true to the Sholdt ethic of hiring only the most gifted craftsmen available…and keeping them. Today most of Sholdt’s employees have been with the company 15 years or more. As more and more American companies ship their production overseas, the brothers still insist on keeping all production at home in Seattle.

“I think our biggest strength is the talented people that have been with us forever,” says Dusty. “We have the ability to do anything a client wants or needs. We have so much accumulated knowledge that it allows us to do and try what others won’t. It’s our niche.”