diff --git a/src/ifcgeom/Converter.cpp b/src/ifcgeom/Converter.cpp
index a9a1eb75ec..38ca41da1f 100644
--- a/src/ifcgeom/Converter.cpp
+++ b/src/ifcgeom/Converter.cpp
@@ -363,8 +363,13 @@ IfcGeom::BRepElement* ifcopenshell::geometry::Converter::create_brep_for_process
 }
 
 IfcGeom::BRepElement* ifcopenshell::geometry::Converter::create_brep_for_representation_and_product(const IfcUtil::IfcBaseEntity* representation, const IfcUtil::IfcBaseEntity* product) {
+	auto interpreted_representation = mapping_->map(representation);
+	if (!interpreted_representation) {
+		interpreted_representation = taxonomy::make<taxonomy::collection>();
+		interpreted_representation->instance = representation;
+	}
 	return create_brep_for_representation_and_product(
-		mapping_->map(representation),
+		interpreted_representation,
 		product,
 		taxonomy::cast<taxonomy::geom_item>(mapping_->map(product))->matrix
 	);
diff --git a/src/ifcwrap/IfcGeomWrapper.i b/src/ifcwrap/IfcGeomWrapper.i
index fe08541a6f..a987a3c473 100644
--- a/src/ifcwrap/IfcGeomWrapper.i
+++ b/src/ifcwrap/IfcGeomWrapper.i
@@ -724,7 +724,7 @@ struct ShapeRTTI : public boost::static_visitor<PyObject*>
 			
 			typename Schema::IfcProductRepresentation* prodrep = product->Representation();
 			typename Schema::IfcRepresentation::list::ptr reps = prodrep->Representations();
-			typename Schema::IfcRepresentation* ifc_representation = (typename Schema::IfcRepresentation*) representation;
+			typename Schema::IfcRepresentation* ifc_representation = representation->as<typename Schema::IfcRepresentation>();
 			
 			if (!ifc_representation) {
 				// First, try to find a representation based on the settings