It is a series of cross disciplinary projects between design, craft and performance. The concept has got a fundamental aspect of sustainability and criticality. Medusa turns wood into stone so that we avoid polluting quarrying and premature deaths of stone cutting workers (due to silicosis) in low-wage countries. Taking on the character of a 21st century Medusa, Petra Lilja transforms discarded pieces of wood into stone with the help of decorative painting – a traditional craft anchored in our own cultural history.

As a designer, I want to put focus on craft in general and specifically this extinct craft of decor painting that I set myself to master. All parts of the objects in this series; namely jewelry and furniture, consist of ready-made parts of recycled furniture from different eras that I have deconstructed and remixed into new items. In the biggest piece of the series – the Medusa Mirror – I decided to combine the historic craft of decor painting with the modern technique of water jet cutting pieces of wood and mirror glass. I have chosen the mythological character of Medusa because I think her fate has interesting parallels to our time.

The result is a series of objects shown at various design venues for example: Design March, Iceland, Charlottenborg Spring exhibition, Copenhagen, Denmark, Form/Design Center, Malmö, Sweden, Lodz Design Festival, Poland and more.