Nature produces a wide range of materials with fascinating properties that are often taken as a source of inspiration to produce new, man-made materials with superior properties. This international conference will focus on the fabrication and characterization of materials made by nature and feature examples that demonstrate how we can learn from nature to build bio-inspired materials. The conference aims to provide a venue for bringing together researchers who characterize natural materials, researchers who investigate mechanisms by which such materials are produced, and researchers who take cues from nature to fabricate new biomimetic and bioinspired materials.