In nature, many types of nano-structures are formed spontaneously through the self-assembly of biomolecules. This review article describes recent progress in chemical strategies to design artificial protein and peptide assemblies. C₃-symmetric peptide conjugates and viral β-annulus peptide fragments were developed to construct virus-like peptide nanocapsules. Spatiotemporal control of peptide nanofibre growth was also achieved by photocleavage of a DNA-conjugated β-sheet forming peptide.