In 2019, filmmaker Theo Shear and harpist Mary Lattimore jointly wrote a proposal to the Unicode Consortium, asking the group to create the first harp emoji. It has been approved and will be available for use later this year or early 2025.
“I’m a fan of Mary Lattimore’s music, and her music inspired me to take harp lessons back in 2019,” Schear, who created the emojis and worked on the project with Emojination, told Pitchfork via email. “I’ve already co-authored several emojis, and I’m always looking for new emojis to suggest.”
Schear also told Pitchfork how her friend, Jennifer 8. Lee, vice chair of Unicode’s emoji subcommittee, has given the green light for the proposal to move forward. “Jenny said the harp emoji was worth suggesting, despite the fact that musical instruments weren’t accepted at the time,” she wrote. “Because of the modernity of the world harp, he thought it would be accepted when they returned to musical instruments. I wanted to write my name in the semiotic history of my favorite instrument, and now I am honored to co-author with Mary.”
Schear developed most of the proposal, but Mary Lattimore was still an important part of the project. “His reputation was really more of an endorsement, the way producers attach famous executive producers to movies,” Shear explained.
Lattimore said in a statement to Pitchfork: “I was delighted when Theo asked me to approve this emoji suggestion. We, harpists, have been waiting for this moment.”
In the original proposal, as noted Harp columnSchear and Lattimore pointed out the apparent lack of harp representation in the emoji ecosystem, stating: the harp is one of the most recognized instruments in the world.” The offering also nodded to the celestial connotations of the harp; “Furthermore, angels are often depicted with harps, and we should all strive to be angels.”
The new harp emoji will be included in the beta version of the Unicode 16.0 emoji catalog. The emoji designs were created by Aphelandra Messer of Emojination. Schear previously co-authored several emojis with Emojination (drink can, clay, and mirror ball).
As for future emoji projects, Shear pointed to the public’s appetite for more musical instrument symbols. “My friend wants a bassoon emoji,” he wrote. “I think an upright piano or an organ would be great, and my other favorite instrument is probably the kalimba, so I’d love to see that.”
