diff --git a/src/zenml/constants.py b/src/zenml/constants.py
index 183b1acce1..c303775617 100644
--- a/src/zenml/constants.py
+++ b/src/zenml/constants.py
@@ -174,6 +174,11 @@ def handle_int_env_var(var: str, default: int = 0) -> int:
     "ZENML_PIPELINE_API_TOKEN_EXPIRATION"
 )
 
+# Materializers environment variables
+ENV_ZENML_MATERIALIAZERS_ALLOW_NON_ASCII_JSON_DUMPS = (
+    "ZENML_MATERIALIAZERS_ALLOW_NON_ASCII_JSON_DUMPS" 
+)
+
 # ZenML Server environment variables
 ENV_ZENML_SERVER_PREFIX = "ZENML_SERVER_"
 ENV_ZENML_SERVER_DEPLOYMENT_TYPE = f"{ENV_ZENML_SERVER_PREFIX}DEPLOYMENT_TYPE"
diff --git a/src/zenml/materializers/built_in_materializer.py b/src/zenml/materializers/built_in_materializer.py
index 06e28291c7..df16b9ef4c 100644
--- a/src/zenml/materializers/built_in_materializer.py
+++ b/src/zenml/materializers/built_in_materializer.py
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@
 )
 
 from zenml.artifact_stores.base_artifact_store import BaseArtifactStore
+from zenml.constants import (
+    ENV_ZENML_MATERIALIAZERS_ALLOW_NON_ASCII_JSON_DUMPS,
+    handle_bool_env_var,
+)
 from zenml.enums import ArtifactType, VisualizationType
 from zenml.logger import get_logger
 from zenml.materializers.base_materializer import BaseMaterializer
@@ -48,7 +52,9 @@
     str,
     type(None),
 )  # complex/bytes are not JSON serializable
-
+ZENML_MATERIALIAZERS_ALLOW_NON_ASCII_JSON_DUMPS = handle_bool_env_var(
+    ENV_ZENML_MATERIALIAZERS_ALLOW_NON_ASCII_JSON_DUMPS, False
+)
 
 class BuiltInMaterializer(BaseMaterializer):
     """Handle JSON-serializable basic types (`bool`, `float`, `int`, `str`)."""
@@ -94,7 +100,10 @@ def save(self, data: Union[bool, float, int, str]) -> None:
         Args:
             data: The data to store.
         """
-        yaml_utils.write_json(self.data_path, data)
+        yaml_utils.write_json(
+            self.data_path, data,
+            ensure_ascii=not ZENML_MATERIALIAZERS_ALLOW_NON_ASCII_JSON_DUMPS
+        )
 
     def extract_metadata(
         self, data: Union[bool, float, int, str]
@@ -371,7 +380,10 @@ def save(self, data: Any) -> None:
 
         # If the data is serializable, just write it into a single JSON file.
         if _is_serializable(data):
-            yaml_utils.write_json(self.data_path, data)
+            yaml_utils.write_json(
+                self.data_path, data,
+                ensure_ascii=not ZENML_MATERIALIAZERS_ALLOW_NON_ASCII_JSON_DUMPS
+            )
             return
 
         # non-serializable dict: Handle as non-serializable list of lists.
diff --git a/src/zenml/utils/yaml_utils.py b/src/zenml/utils/yaml_utils.py
index 6f84832526..e221f14677 100644
--- a/src/zenml/utils/yaml_utils.py
+++ b/src/zenml/utils/yaml_utils.py
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ def write_json(
     file_path: str,
     contents: Any,
     encoder: Optional[Type[json.JSONEncoder]] = None,
+    **json_dump_args
 ) -> None:
     """Write contents as JSON format to file_path.
 
@@ -143,6 +144,7 @@ def write_json(
         json.dumps(
             contents,
             cls=encoder,
+            **json_dump_args
         ),
     )