diff --git a/application/main.py b/application/main.py
index 2834469d7..4b745e498 100644
--- a/application/main.py
+++ b/application/main.py
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@
 except ImportError:
 	pass
 
+# Sunflower has to handle UTF-8 encoded strings while interacting with GTK
+import sys
+reload(sys)
+sys.setdefaultencoding("utf-8")
 
 class Sunflower(Gtk.Application):
 	"""Main application instance."""