Dutch Entrepreneur Finds Way to Preserve Tattoos of the DEAD

TT

A Dutch entrepreneur says he has found a way to preserve people’s tattoos – after they have DIED.

Tattoo shop owner Peter van der Helm says around 30 clients have already agreed to donate their skin to his company, the “Walls and Skin” tattoo parlour, after they die and have each paid a few hundred Euros to have their inked designs made immortal.

After their deaths, a pathologist will remove the tattoo to freeze or package in it formaldehyde – ideally within 48 hours – before it is sent to a lab for a procedure to extract water and replace it with silicone.

The 12-week process leaves a rubbery substance which will stand the test of time.

Mr Van der Helm said: “Everyone spends their lives in search of immorality and this is a simple way to get a piece of it.

“Everybody with tattoos has that idea. It’s not a new idea, we just found a way to actually do it.”

One of his clients who has decided to undergo the procedure after his death is Floris Hirschfeld.

His mother died two years ago, and he had her portrait tattooed on his back in her memory.

Mr Hirschfeld, who has no children of his own, says he does not yet know who will inherit his tattoo, but knows that he wants it saved.

He said: “People have stuffed animals in their house, so why not skin?

“If you look in certain old tattoo shops, there is always a jar with special water and a piece of skin in it and it does look terrible.

“This way it looks much better, so if I can be preserved like this, yes please!”