By Taylah Eastwell
Growing up in Ferny Creek, Zoe Amber Preston has developed a deep love and connection to the lush green hills that surround her.
The calm and the quiet, the connection to nature and that tiny pinch of hippy that can only be found in the Hills have all shaped and molded Ms Preston into the 23-year-old woman she is today.
But when searching for a sticker to show off and express her love for the Hills, she couldn’t find something that accurately reflected her love for the place she calls home.
“I’ve lived in the Hills my entire life and really wanted to show off my love for it. I did a bit of research trying to find a sticker online, but nothing really resonated with me at all so I thought, you know what, I’ll do it myself,” Ms Preston said.
Taking her stylus to a design app called Ibis PaintX, Ms Preston created a 1970’s inspired Dandenong Ranges sticker, showcasing the lush green hills that often look blue in the distance under a starry night sky.
“I’ve always enjoyed that 1970’s aesthetic and noticed it has been popping up more and more, I see it a lot at Kmart, there is just something about it that just made me feel really good. It’s that whole sort of hippy culture that I do feel like is reflective in a way in the culture of the Hills,” she said.
The rainbow coloured wave through the night air in the design was incorporated as a symbol of Ms Preston’s love for the calmness and soothing ability of the Dandenongs.
“It’s almost spiritual in a way because I thought of a design that would make me feel calm and reflect how I feel in the Hills. I see it as a calming, soothing, beautiful place. The flow of the rainbow reflects that it is something we can get so easily lost in, because it almost looks like the waves of the ocean,” Ms Preston explained.
“The mountain in the design was from the Ferntree Gully side, because that is where I go to work and that is the view I see pretty much every single day,” she said.
Ms Preston said her love the Dandenong’s stemmed from the healing powers she felt from nature when experiencing anxiety as a teenager.
“I started going into nature, I would catch the bus up to Olinda and walk around the Arboretum and found it was a really good way to help with anxiety. I began to realise through spending time in the Dandenongs that nature has such a positive impact on mental health and is very grounding. I credit a lot of my healing to the Dandenongs and getting out in nature going for hikes,” she explained.
With a bit of a push from her housemates, Ms Preston took to Facebook to share her design, with the post receiving over 360 likes and comments from locals keen to purchase a sticker.
“I personally didn’t expect it. It does make sense because it’s something quite unique,” she said.
Ms Preston said she has sold about 35 stickers and has already had to order more to keep up with demand.
“It definitely made my weekend.
“The Hills have had such a huge positive impact on my life and a big influence on how I grew up with nature and conservation, I can’t imagine growing up anywhere else and I just wanted to show off and spread my love for the Dandenongs,” she said.
To pre-order a sticker visit: https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/988843392
