Connecting underlying detailed chemical processes with the growth and emergent form remains an extreme challenge in the life sciences. In materials research, the outlook is now optimistic. Establishing a connection between the basic interatomic forces to the ultimate shape and properties of, e.g., carbon nanostructures is now a real possibility. We will discuss several important examples including our theory of why carbon nanotubes have the chiralities they do, on growth and morphology of graphene and other important 2D-materials, including the equilibrium shape of growing islands, about polycrystallinity and grain boundaries, and the unexpected role these structural aspects play in electronics, magnetism, energy storage, and catalysis. If time permits, the nano-mechanics and the metal-insulator transition in monoatomic chains of carbon—carbynes—will be discussed.