diff --git a/toolbox/handlers.py b/toolbox/handlers.py
index e77837b..d4b66d2 100644
--- a/toolbox/handlers.py
+++ b/toolbox/handlers.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 import os
 from datetime import datetime
 from pkg_resources import resource_filename
-from urllib import quote
+from urllib import quote as _quote
 from urlparse import urlparse
 from util import strsplit
 from util import JSONEncoder
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@
 from tempita import HTMLTemplate
 from time import time
 
+def quote(s, safe='/'):
+    if isinstance(s, unicode):
+        s = s.encode('utf-8', 'ignore') # hope we're using utf-8!
+    return _quote(s, safe)
+
 try:
     import json
 except ImportError:
@@ -269,7 +274,13 @@ def match(cls, app, request):
             return None
 
         # get the project if it exists
-        project = app.model.project(request.environ['path'][0])
+        projectname = request.environ['path'][0]
+        try:
+            # if its utf-8, we should try to keep it utf-8
+            projectname = projectname.decode('utf-8')
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            pass
+        project = app.model.project(projectname)
         if not project:
             return None