Canadian content creator Remy Schofield has been recognized as the world's most tattooed living person in the 2027 Guinness World Records. The 38 year old has tattoos covering 90% of his body, with some areas carrying as many as 40 layers of ink.

The achievement became possible through a newly introduced record recognizing the extraordinary extent of Schofield's repeated tattooing. Rather than stopping after completing one body suit, he has repeatedly covered older work with fresh colors and designs.

Schofield had abandoned hope of appearing in the record book because Lucky Diamond Rich had held the record for the percentage of the body covered in tattoos for two decades. Lucky Diamond Rich is tattooed completely from head to toe.

The 2027 Guinness World Records features 3,000 achievements from around the world. Among the record holders from the United Kingdom are a Suffolk My Little Pony fan and a London based foot juggler who spins a 10kg table on her feet.

His route to the record did not follow a conventional academic or professional path. “I didn't go to college or university, I was a cook for 20 years, I managed a restaurant,” he explained. “So I would say it was similar to the feeling of getting your degree. It's a lifetime achievement.”

Schofield has documented hundreds of tattoo sessions in recent years while continuously transforming his appearance. His body was once completely blacked out, despite a belief that tattooing over such extensive black ink could not be done.

For many people, tattoos represent permanent decisions requiring lengthy consideration. Schofield sees them differently and said he worries more about cutting his hair than changing the tattoos across his body.

“My whole gimmick is I can change my outfit whenever I want,” he said. “I feel more consequential about cutting my hair than I do getting a tattoo, changing a tattoo. I can change the colour of a tattoo faster than I can grow my hair out.”

The record has not persuaded Schofield to slow his transformation. He continues to attend two tattoo sessions each week and plans to have his entire back redone next.

“I've got even more gas in the tank. It's renewed my motivation to go even further. I don't know if I'll ever be finished or not,” he said.

Despite the purple designs covering his arms, legs and midriff, much of the skin on Schofield's face remains visible. He has bats on his eyelids, writing above his eyebrows, ink on his chin and tattoos surrounding his face, representing 130 hours of work.

Schofield said he faced pressure from people urging him to tattoo the remainder of his face. He believed his refusal to do so would keep him from securing a place in Guinness World Records.

An intervention from New Zealand performance artist Lucky Diamond Rich changed that outlook. Lucky Diamond Rich arranged a meeting with Guinness, and Schofield secured the record two days later.

 

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Schofield said keeping part of his face uncovered allows him to recognize himself in the mirror. “I could do it if I wanted, it wouldn't cost me at my job, it's just about how I see myself, I don't want to be consumed by my project.”

Earlier in life, Schofield did not expect to become heavily tattooed and was more interested in piercings, accumulating more than 100 before his first tattoo. He received that tattoo at 17, placing his son's name on his forearm.

Some designs will remain even as the larger composition changes. Memorial tattoos on his head honor his mother, father and his son's mother, who died of cancer in 2016.

“Everything I get as a memorial will never be covered. You have to rework things to keep them in the composition, but that's my way of honouring them,” Schofield said.

His right thigh also carries a portrait of Mozart, his Shih Tzu Poodle, dressed in a tuxedo. The dog died last April after spending 16 years with Schofield, who had reserved a place for the portrait within his blacked out tattoo work.

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