This week, The Unicode Consortium released Emoji 12.0, the latest set of emojis vendors can make available to us on our phones and computers. (Apparently, this will happen throughout 2019.) The 59 additions include a clapping otter, a waffle topped with a pat of butter, a drop of blood (?!), and—drumroll, please—a chair. Up until now, decor-loving texters had to make do with "person in bed" (🛌), "seat" (💺), "framed picture" (🖼️), and "couch and lamp" (🛋️). Now there's what looks to be a wooden dining chair to employ in the crucial moments when seating comes up in conversation, of which there are many, obviously.
According to Jeremy Burge, the Chief Emoji Officer at Emojipedia, "Each year, when there is a new emoji list published, Emojipedia creates a set of sample images which demonstrate one way the emojis might turn out when they come to major platforms. Sometimes the end results look a lot like our designs, and sometimes vendors take their own distinct paths." Joshua Jones is the designer behind Emojipedia's chair emoji sample, and he gave us some insight into his masterpiece. "I wanted it to be the most generally recognized visual of a chair as possible," he says. "So a generic wooden chair came to mind first for me. It was intentionally not modern, with multiple materials. [Instead, it's] generic to reach the broadest audience."
We're very thankful for the arrival of a chair emoji, don't get us wrong, but the announcement got us thinking about the pieces of decor that didn't make it into Emoji 12.0 but really should have. It's about time we rounded out the home decor category. These are the top five things we hope make it into the next version:
1. An armchair
Cozy armchairs serve a whole different purpose from spindly wooden ones, therefore each needs its own emoji. Given simplicity is best when it comes to emoji design, perhaps it's color-blocked?!
2. A lamp
The light bulb emoji does not equal a lamp! We want an honest-to-goodness light fixture—preferably with a statement shade
3. A pillow
A pillow has got to be the most ubiquitous soft textile. More important, it would be adorable in emoji form.
4. A mirror
If there's a framed picture emoji, there should be a mirror emoji—it's an equally important wall decor, if you ask us. In an ideal world, it would be irregularly shaped, like all the best designs lately.
5. A bookcase
We often find ourselves searching for a bookcase emoji, to no avail. Why are there are eight emojis of books, yet zero bookcases? We're not asking for anything trendy this time, just a classic multi-shelved storage unit.
