Top Designers Share Their Standout Picks from Salon Art+Design 2026

November 3, 2026

As Salon Art+Design returns to New York’s historic Park Avenue Armory from November 4 to 8, the cavernous drill hall once again transforms into a destination for the very best in collectible design, fine art, and cutting-edge jewelry. As usual, the fair’s major pull lies in the eclectic dialogue between vintage, modern, and contemporary collectible design objects and blue-chip 20th-century and contemporary fine art masterpieces, as well as a trove of trailblazing independent high jewelers.

“There are so many great things to choose from, and I was particularly drawn to the wide variety of ceramics, including Paul Briggs work from Liz O’Brien’s collection, but if I had to choose one piece, it would be J McDonald’s Serrulata Mirror from Twenty First Gallery. The biomorphic quality and beautiful pink enameled bronze feet make for an irresistible piece!”—John Ike

 

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      J McDonald

      Born in the United States in 1986, J McDonald studied architecture before founding a high-end‭ metal fabrication studio in New York, where he produced technically complex works for leading‭ artists and designers while independently pursuing sculpture. In 2018, he began merging these‭ parallel practices with his first furniture pieces, leading to the creation of Studio J McDonald,‬ now based between Brooklyn and Accord, New York.‬

      McDonald’s work exists at the intersection of sculpture, furniture, and architecture, and explores‭ tensions between intuition and rationality, the natural and the constructed, the analog and the‭ digital. His pieces fuse strict geometric logic with gestural, organic forms. Drawing on his deep‭ expertise in metalworking and craftsmanship, he balances formal precision with textural‭ spontaneity: metals offer structural clarity and order, while resins and plasters offer complexity,‭ softness, and visible traces of the hand.‬

      ‭This dialogue between order and chaos reflects his core preoccupation: the contradictions‭ inherent in the human condition and our uneasy relationship with nature. His works often appear‭ animated or alive: mirrors ripple, tables lean, volumes erode or distort, challenging assumptions‭ about stability, function, and form. For McDonald, each object becomes a perceptual tool,‭ inviting viewers to reimagine their relationship to their environment.‬

      ‭His inspirations range from insect architecture and geological processes to classical geometry‭ and the subconscious. Through a process grounded in experimentation and refinement, he‭ moves fluidly between digital and analog processes to produce sculptural works that redefine‬ how we inhabit and interpret the material world.‬

      McDonald’s work has been exhibited internationally and featured in design publications and‬ critical essays.‬

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