We all like a nice knob.
But some people like a knob more than others, especially the door knob.
While usually relegated to the purely functional task of opening or closing doors, knobs have other charms and two people have been exploring the girls who know this.
Photographer Ai Ehara and manga-ka/illustrator Ryuko Azuma started the Door Knob Girl project in order to gather images of young Japanese girls licking door knobs (and also, to be precise, door handles).
Yes, that’s pretty much the gist of it.
It started in 2010 and in 2012 they released a photo book collecting some of best images together.
Perennially during that time it was championed as a Japanese “trend” or “meme” by the occasional English-language blog.
In fact, the whole project treads a fine line between the artistic, the kinky and the silly. The images are also filled with the usual array of manga and anime shojo girl motifs, such as school uniforms.
Unfortunately, the tumblr account seems quiet of late (the last entry at the time of writing is August), so do we presume that the project has wounded itself down? That’s a sad day for fetishists!
The most recent postings seem to have been submitted by girls themselves indulging in the fetish, rather than shot by the original creators.
Is this end of the craze?
No, have faith. There are over eighty pages of archived photos to browse and I’m sure that somewhere today there are still girls out there licking door knobs!
