diff -r da1d22528032 -r cb99848d8334 src/ztfy/utils/unicode.py
--- a/src/ztfy/utils/unicode.py	Sat May 10 11:35:13 2014 +0200
+++ b/src/ztfy/utils/unicode.py	Tue May 20 15:54:14 2014 +0200
@@ -163,8 +163,16 @@
     return [uninvl(v) for v in value]
 
 
+def encode(value, encoding='utf-8'):
+    """Encode given value with encoding"""
+    return value.encode(encoding) if isinstance(value, unicode) else value
+
+
 def utf8(value):
-    """Convert given value to UTF-8"""
-    if isinstance(value, unicode):
-        value = value.encode('utf8')
-    return value
+    """Encode given value tu UTF-8"""
+    return encode(value, 'utf-8')
+
+
+def decode(value, encoding='utf-8'):
+    """Decode given value with encoding"""
+    return value.decode(encoding) if isinstance(value, str) else value