"With the lease on 19th Street signed, architect Peter Bentel and I dove deep into transforming the space. We wanted the look and feel of Craft to reflect the culinary philosophy within the its walls. Just as the ingredients on Craft's menu were to be presented simply and without artifice, so would the building materials and construction. We wanted a design that felt elemental, one that revealed rather than obfuscated. 

Inspired artist Richard Serra, the dining room at Craft features a curving wall clad in leather and Brazilian black walnut along one side of the long dining room. We built double-height wine vaults from humble components like bronze, steel and wood and made it visible to diners, who from their seat could their server climb the steps and collect their choice. We stripped the plaster off columns to reveal the beautiful terra-cotta underneath, which lent a wash of warmth throughout the space without the need for paint, and let the walls float against one another without the frippery of moldings. We left as many spaces unvarnished as we could - stripped of disguises, the building materials carried a rustic beauty all their own, just as a perfect mushroom or radish or sea scallop does before sauces and garnish. I had always loved Edison bulbs - in which the filaments are both utility and design - and we placed dozens into our chandeliers. Now they're commonplace, but they were so unique and remarked upon at the time that we turned one into Craft's logo. Bob Scott has a grove of cherry trees on his farm in Vermont, and we hired an artisan to craft some of them into tables so beautiful we canceled our tablecloth order."

- from Tom Colicchio's memoir, Why I Cook