World Emoji Day: How emoticons inspire homegrown artists and creators

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Spinning a yarn

Mehak Grover, founder, @macknack_
As a corporate employee in a Big 4 audit firm, I started crocheting on my mother's insistence to relieve stress. Eventually, I left my job to pursue crocheting full-time. What began as a stress buster is now my happiness, and my business. My artworks are inspired from the things we usually see in our daily lives. For instance, if I eat an ice cream, or use any emoji in my chat, I crochet them. Some emoji-inspired crochets in my collection include beer pints, avocado, honey bee, cherries, evil eye and more.

Express in style

Arya Bhansali and Prishita Mehta, co-founders, @cutsnjoys
OUR emoji bento cakes are in trend among the GenZ. They ask us to doodle select emoticons to convey their emotions, and highlight core memories. It also looks super cool and fun. These cakes can come in a variety of flavours like chocolate, vanilla, lotus biscoff, hazelnut, butterscotch, Nutella, and blueberry, among others. Some of our all-time favourite emojis to draw [we use whipping cream for it] are the warm, heartfelt ones like sun, smiles, flowers, clouds and hearts.

Offbeat celebrations

Aashna and Zoya Shaikh, bakers, @cakealicious_by_az
We got a cake order request from a client to make a customised emoji cake but she was a bit sceptical if we would accept it. She wanted a 3-D poop emoji cake. After much thought, we gave it a go as it was something unique. We were a bit unsure about structuring because cakes are usually round or square. The most difficult part was to cover the entire cake with fondant in one go so there's no extra creasing and layering. But we were able to do it. When our family members learned about it, they laughed a lot, especially our younger cousins. It's still the talk of the town. People refuse to believe that the 3-D poop emoji was actually an edible, delicious dark chocolate cake!

Memories from Taiwan

Alisha Huang, visual designer, @inked.pencil
I am half Chinese, so as a family, we naturally love noodles. I remember a hotpot I had on my visit to Taiwan. It was so delicious that I had to draw it. I wanted to give it a human-like yet cartoonish and scrumptious look. I turned to a few emojis for inspiration. In this artwork, you can spot the noodle bowl emoji, fish cake emoji and the omelette emoji.

Keep an eye out

Amal Nair, Kirthi Pillai and Yash Shetty, co-founders, @doodlemapuls
We are a group of architects and visual artists, and our work spans across various mediums, including murals, architecture, digital art, interior design and graphic design. One such digitally-created artwork called Eyes of the World explores the intricate relationship between individual perception and everything around us. Utilising the motif of the human eye as a central element, this piece serves as a metaphor for the ways in which we see, interpret, and connect with the world around us.

An everlasting smile

Tawfik Manham, artist, @tawfikmanhan
I moved from Mumbai to the UK nearly a year ago. I had begun an initiative seven years ago where I made a postcard a day. One such postcard featured a simple but powerful emoji - the smiley face. It is used widely across social media. The centre is painted with acrylic metallic golden colour, such that if you expose it to sunlight or any good source of light, it tends to reflect and shine, just like the infectious emoji.