In the quest of increasing safety and efficiency in structural applications, learning from natural materials can be a promising approach. Nature has evolved for billions of years to develop elaborate strategies, achieving optimal material solutions. A brief review of exemplar natural materials is provided here, with a focus on their multiscale structures. The design motifs, common to biological structural materials, are summarized, with a highlight on the structure-property relationship. A review of recent advancement in the manufacturing of bio-inspired composites is given, followed by recent and successful case studies. Finally, a critical discussion, highlighting the limitations of the current techniques, and prospecting the future challenges for the design of novel materials for engineering applications.
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