diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 27070ee2..f6f1cd68 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
   end of a set of paint actions to trigger an update
 - parent/child -> upstream/downstream in DAG
 - set VIPS_ICC_DIR in configure
+- ICC profiles are looked for in VIPS_ICC_DIR as a fallback
 
 15/1/10 started 7.21.1
 - added "written" callbacks, used to implement write to non-vips formats
diff --git a/libvips/colour/im_icc_transform.c b/libvips/colour/im_icc_transform.c
index 36986161..071202c3 100644
--- a/libvips/colour/im_icc_transform.c
+++ b/libvips/colour/im_icc_transform.c
@@ -373,7 +373,8 @@ attach_profile( IMAGE *im, const char *filename )
 	char *data;
 	unsigned int data_length;
 
-	if( !(data = im__file_read_name( filename, &data_length )) ) 
+	if( !(data = im__file_read_name( filename, VIPS_ICC_DIR, 
+		&data_length )) ) 
 		return( -1 );
 	if( im_meta_set_blob( im, IM_META_ICC_NAME, 
 		(im_callback_fn) im_free, data, data_length ) ) {
diff --git a/libvips/format/im_analyze2vips.c b/libvips/format/im_analyze2vips.c
index 5b5af292..79994383 100644
--- a/libvips/format/im_analyze2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/format/im_analyze2vips.c
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ read_header( const char *header )
 	struct dsr *d;
 	unsigned int len;
 
-	if( !(d = (struct dsr *) im__file_read_name( header, &len )) )
+	if( !(d = (struct dsr *) im__file_read_name( header, NULL, &len )) )
 		return( NULL );
 	if( len != sizeof( struct dsr ) ) {
 		im_free( d );
diff --git a/libvips/format/im_jpeg2vips.c b/libvips/format/im_jpeg2vips.c
index 0cc6929f..70760fc7 100644
--- a/libvips/format/im_jpeg2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/format/im_jpeg2vips.c
@@ -671,7 +671,7 @@ jpeg2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 
 	/* Make input.
 	 */
-        if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( filename )) ) 
+        if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( filename, NULL )) ) 
                 return( -1 );
 	eman.fp = fp;
         jpeg_stdio_src( &cinfo, fp );
diff --git a/libvips/format/im_png2vips.c b/libvips/format/im_png2vips.c
index ef9e4bcf..134915f0 100644
--- a/libvips/format/im_png2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/format/im_png2vips.c
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ read_new( const char *name, IMAGE *out )
 	read->row_pointer = NULL;
 	read->data = NULL;
 
-        if( !(read->fp = im__file_open_read( name )) ) {
+        if( !(read->fp = im__file_open_read( name, NULL )) ) {
 		read_destroy( read );
 		return( NULL );
 	}
diff --git a/libvips/format/im_ppm2vips.c b/libvips/format/im_ppm2vips.c
index 3e486014..ba59a564 100644
--- a/libvips/format/im_ppm2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/format/im_ppm2vips.c
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ ppm2vips_header( const char *filename, IMAGE *out )
 	int bits;
 	int ascii;
 
-	if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( filename )) ) 
+	if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( filename, NULL )) ) 
                 return( -1 );
 	if( read_header( fp, out, &bits, &ascii ) ) {
 		fclose( fp );
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ isppmmmap( const char *filename )
 	int bits;
 	int ascii;
 
-	if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( filename )) ) 
+	if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( filename, NULL )) ) 
                 return( -1 );
 
 	if( !(im = im_open( "temp", "p" )) ) {
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ im_ppm2vips( const char *filename, IMAGE *out )
 {
         FILE *fp;
 
-	if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( filename )) ) 
+	if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( filename, NULL )) ) 
                 return( -1 );
 	if( parse_ppm( fp, filename, out ) ) {
 		fclose( fp );
diff --git a/libvips/format/im_vips2jpeg.c b/libvips/format/im_vips2jpeg.c
index 2c1bdb74..a3b80c5c 100644
--- a/libvips/format/im_vips2jpeg.c
+++ b/libvips/format/im_vips2jpeg.c
@@ -489,7 +489,8 @@ static int
 write_profile_file( Write *write, const char *profile )
 {
 	if( !(write->profile_bytes = 
-		im__file_read_name( profile, &write->profile_length )) ) 
+		im__file_read_name( profile, VIPS_ICC_DIR, 
+		&write->profile_length )) ) 
 		return( -1 );
 	write_profile_data( &write->cinfo, 
 		(JOCTET *) write->profile_bytes, write->profile_length );
diff --git a/libvips/format/im_vips2tiff.c b/libvips/format/im_vips2tiff.c
index 9edc0c9c..aa83a7a3 100644
--- a/libvips/format/im_vips2tiff.c
+++ b/libvips/format/im_vips2tiff.c
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ embed_profile_file( TIFF *tif, const char *profile )
 	char *buffer;
 	unsigned int length;
 
-	if( !(buffer = im__file_read_name( profile, &length )) ) 
+	if( !(buffer = im__file_read_name( profile, VIPS_ICC_DIR, &length )) ) 
 		return( -1 );
 	TIFFSetField( tif, TIFFTAG_ICCPROFILE, length, buffer );
 	im_free( buffer );
diff --git a/libvips/format/radiance.c b/libvips/format/radiance.c
index 36fa769d..ef882ffa 100644
--- a/libvips/format/radiance.c
+++ b/libvips/format/radiance.c
@@ -779,7 +779,7 @@ israd( const char *filename )
 	printf( "israd: \"%s\"\n", filename );
 #endif /*DEBUG*/
 
-        if( !(fin = im__file_open_read( filename )) ) 
+        if( !(fin = im__file_open_read( filename, NULL )) ) 
 		return( 0 );
 	strcpy( format, PICFMT );
 	result = checkheader( fin, format, NULL );
@@ -825,7 +825,7 @@ read_new( const char *filename, IMAGE *out )
 	read->prims[3][1] = CIE_y_w;
 	read->buf = NULL;
 
-	if( !(read->fin = im__file_open_read( filename )) ) {
+	if( !(read->fin = im__file_open_read( filename, NULL )) ) {
 		read_destroy( read );
 		return( NULL );
 	}
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/util.h b/libvips/include/vips/util.h
index 28c1411b..3a2afc04 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/util.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/util.h
@@ -225,10 +225,11 @@ char *im_getsuboption( const char *buf );
 gint64 im_file_length( int fd );
 int im__write( int fd, const void *buf, size_t count );
 
-FILE *im__file_open_read( const char *filename );
+FILE *im__file_open_read( const char *filename, const char *fallback_dir );
 FILE *im__file_open_write( const char *filename );
 char *im__file_read( FILE *fp, const char *name, unsigned int *length_out );
-char *im__file_read_name( const char *name, unsigned int *length_out );
+char *im__file_read_name( const char *name, const char *fallback_dir, 
+	unsigned int *length_out );
 int im__file_write( void *data, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream );
 
 typedef enum {
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/util.c b/libvips/iofuncs/util.c
index 043e53b0..d3b3f28c 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/util.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/util.c
@@ -817,7 +817,7 @@ im__write( int fd, const void *buf, size_t count )
 /* Load up a file as a string.
  */
 char *
-im__file_read( FILE *fp, const char *name, unsigned int *length_out )
+im__file_read( FILE *fp, const char *filename, unsigned int *length_out )
 {
         long len;
 	size_t read;
@@ -830,7 +830,7 @@ im__file_read( FILE *fp, const char *name, unsigned int *length_out )
 	if( len > 20 * 1024 * 1024 ) {
 		/* Seems crazy!
 		 */
-                im_error( "im__file_read", _( "\"%s\" too long" ), name );
+                im_error( "im__file_read", _( "\"%s\" too long" ), filename );
                 return( NULL );
         }
 
@@ -873,7 +873,8 @@ im__file_read( FILE *fp, const char *name, unsigned int *length_out )
 		if( read != (size_t) len ) {
 			im_free( str );
 			im_error( "im__file_read", 
-				_( "error reading from file \"%s\"" ), name );
+				_( "error reading from file \"%s\"" ), 
+				filename );
 			return( NULL );
 		}
 	}
@@ -886,23 +887,60 @@ im__file_read( FILE *fp, const char *name, unsigned int *length_out )
         return( str );
 }
 
+/* Does a filename contain a directory separator?
+ */
+static gboolean 
+filename_hasdir( const char *filename )
+{
+	char *dirname;
+	gboolean hasdir;
+
+	dirname = g_path_get_dirname( filename );
+	hasdir = (strcmp( dirname, "." ) != 0);
+	g_free( dirname );
+
+	return( hasdir );
+}
+
+/* Open a file. We take an optional fallback dir as well and will try opening
+ * there if opening directly fails.
+ *
+ * This is used for things like finding ICC profiles. We try to open the file
+ * directly first, and if that fails and the filename does not contain a
+ * directory separator, we try looking in the fallback dir.
+ */
 FILE *
-im__file_open_read( const char *filename )
+im__file_open_read( const char *filename, const char *fallback_dir )
 {
 	FILE *fp;
 
 #ifdef BINARY_OPEN
-        if( !(fp = fopen( filename, "rb" )) ) {
-#else /*BINARY_OPEN*/
-        if( !(fp = fopen( filename, "r" )) ) {
+        fp = fopen( filename, "rb" );
+#else /*!BINARY_OPEN*/
+        fp = fopen( filename, "r" );
 #endif /*BINARY_OPEN*/
-		im_error( "im__file_open_read", 
-			_( "unable to open file \"%s\" for reading" ), 
-			filename );
-		return( NULL );
+	if( fp )
+		return( fp );
+
+	if( fallback_dir && !filename_hasdir( filename ) ) {
+		char *path;
+
+		path = g_build_filename( fallback_dir, filename, NULL );
+#ifdef BINARY_OPEN
+	        fp = fopen( path, "rb" );
+#else /*!BINARY_OPEN*/
+        	fp = fopen( path, "r" );
+#endif /*BINARY_OPEN*/
+		g_free( path );
+
+		if( fp )
+			return( fp );
 	}
 
-	return( fp );
+	im_error( "im__file_open_read", 
+		_( "unable to open file \"%s\" for reading" ), filename );
+
+	return( NULL );
 }
 
 FILE *
@@ -924,17 +962,19 @@ im__file_open_write( const char *filename )
 	return( fp );
 }
 
-/* Load from a filename as a string.
+/* Load from a filename as a string. Used for things like reading in ICC
+ * profiles.
  */
 char *
-im__file_read_name( const char *name, unsigned int *length_out )
+im__file_read_name( const char *filename, const char *fallback_dir, 
+	unsigned int *length_out )
 {
 	FILE *fp;
 	char *buffer;
 
-        if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( name )) ) 
+        if( !(fp = im__file_open_read( filename, fallback_dir )) ) 
 		return( NULL );
-	if( !(buffer = im__file_read( fp, name, length_out )) ) {
+	if( !(buffer = im__file_read( fp, filename, length_out )) ) {
 		fclose( fp );
 		return( NULL );
 	}