When you arrive at a door, whether it’s your own or a friend’s or a strangers, it’s nice to be greeted by a nice and maybe interesting door handle. The one above spotted here.

The use of the hand, usually the female hand, for a door handle or knocker, goes way back. Above found at “victorian plumbing” in the UK

Here’s another hand handle , from Salem, Mass. Seen here.

Our modern taste tends to run to sleek metal door handles, rather than parts of the body. This nifty one available now is designed by Marc Newson. Seen here.

The legendary Gio Ponti designed this door handle, along with thousands of other things. Presented here.

You have to like this cute bunch of door handles from a company called Colombo, seen here

Nothing says welcome like a dolphin door handle, does it?

Unless it’s a human face, mouth open wide, and ears like a rabbit. Two above from somedthinbeautiful

And the long eared man found again on a blog with lots of nice pics of Venice, where this was taken, as well as other colourful places in Italy.

This lizard door handle on a blood red door is from nowadays, but it echoes the slightly spooky spirit of doors long ago. Seen here.

No spookiness here: these handles are soft, colourful, and they give off gentle aromatic scents to boot. Very welcoming. Seen at the always ahead of the pack gizmodo.

Here’s a good idea, well executed: a doorknob lightbulb that says: welcome home, it’s about time. Seen here, along with several other clever ones.

Finally, for today anyway, a swell glass doorknob with stars. You just know you’re going to have a good time behind that door. Designed by out of the blue design studio, site here. Seen here.

The door knob or door handle plays an intimate role in the life of a home or business. Maybe it deserves more thought than most of us give it.