Nostalgic Rhode Island-inspired stickers filled with local charm, humor, and childhood joy.
Ocean State Stickers captures the kind of hyper specific nostalgia that instantly makes Rhode Islanders smile. The designs are packed with familiar references, local landmarks, inside jokes, and small cultural moments that feel instantly recognizable to anyone who grew up in the Ocean State. For locals, the work delivers that perfect “I know exactly what that is” feeling. For visitors, it offers a playful glimpse into the personality of Rhode Island itself.
Founder and illustrator Bella created Ocean State Stickers as both a creative outlet and a love letter to the place she calls home. After earning a Fine Arts degree but working outside of the arts professionally, she found herself missing the process of making things by hand. What began as a hobby drawing stickers soon merged with another lifelong obsession: the sticker vending machines she adored as a kid growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s. That combination of Rhode Island nostalgia and Y2K sticker culture eventually became the foundation for the brand.
Every design is hand drawn by Bella herself, translating her traditional fine arts background into a playful digital medium. Though she originally preferred working with pencil, paint, and paper, digital illustration opened up an entirely new creative language, one that allowed her drawings to evolve into collectible stickers, commissions for local businesses, and even rentals of her vintage style sticker vending machine for weddings and events.
That bright red vending machine, affectionately named Cherry, has become one of the most recognizable parts of the business. Loud, colorful, and impossible to miss, it carries the same playful spirit as the artwork itself, inviting people to reconnect with the simple excitement of feeding quarters into a sticker machine and waiting to see what comes out.
Bella often creates her illustrations late at night while sitting on her bed with a 2000s romantic comedy playing in the background. Other sketches begin mid flight during long international trips, blending her love of travel with her strong attachment to home. No matter where the ideas start, Rhode Island remains at the center of the work.
What You'll Find at Bloom
Rhode Island-themed stickers and nostalgic illustrations, hand-drawn designs inspired by local culture and Y2K aesthetics, and collectible artwork full of humor, personality, and hometown pride
Follow Along
With Ocean State Stickers
Why Bloom?
“I grew up going to Wickenden Street, and I even worked at my aunt's restaurant when it used to be at the top of the hill. I love the area and I love the community. I think Shop Bloom PVD is an amazing space. Where else can anyone get the chance to walk into ONE shop and have access to artwork and pieces so many local artists? I feel very blessed to have this opportunity.” - Bella
Fun Fact
Bella’s love for sticker vending machines comes from begging her mom for quarters after eating at Pizza Hut so she could get Y2K stickers and Britney Spears prints for her school binders.