diff --git a/src/hb-font.cc b/src/hb-font.cc
index ea2216ea0..e56accde7 100644
--- a/src/hb-font.cc
+++ b/src/hb-font.cc
@@ -27,11 +27,12 @@
 #include "hb-private.h"
 
 #include "hb-font-private.h"
-#include "hb-ot-layout-private.h"
-
+#include "hb-unicode-private.h"
 #include "hb-open-file-private.hh"
 #include "hb-blob.h"
 
+#include "hb-ot-layout-private.h"
+
 /*
  * hb_font_funcs_t
  */
@@ -126,7 +127,7 @@ static hb_face_t _hb_face_nil = {
   NULL, /* destroy */
   NULL, /* user_data */
 
-  NULL  /* unicode */
+  &_hb_unicode_funcs_nil  /* unicode */
 };
 
 hb_face_t *
diff --git a/src/hb-unicode-private.h b/src/hb-unicode-private.h
index 3dd528ce5..279389671 100644
--- a/src/hb-unicode-private.h
+++ b/src/hb-unicode-private.h
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ struct _hb_unicode_funcs_t {
   hb_unicode_get_eastasian_width_func_t		get_eastasian_width;
 };
 
+HB_INTERNAL hb_unicode_funcs_t
+_hb_unicode_funcs_nil;
+
 HB_END_DECLS
 
 #endif /* HB_UNICODE_PRIVATE_H */
diff --git a/src/hb-unicode.c b/src/hb-unicode.c
index 47c0396e1..91da4922d 100644
--- a/src/hb-unicode.c
+++ b/src/hb-unicode.c
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ static hb_script_t hb_unicode_get_script_nil (hb_codepoint_t unicode) { return H
 static unsigned int hb_unicode_get_combining_class_nil (hb_codepoint_t unicode) { return 0; }
 static unsigned int hb_unicode_get_eastasian_width_nil (hb_codepoint_t unicode) { return 1; }
 
-static hb_unicode_funcs_t _hb_unicode_funcs_nil = {
+hb_unicode_funcs_t _hb_unicode_funcs_nil = {
   HB_REFERENCE_COUNT_INVALID, /* ref_count */
 
   hb_unicode_get_general_category_nil,