I shall be describing two of my current interests in soft matter, small molecule migration in complex matrices and shape minimisation of assembled liquid crystals (that break orientational order) on curved flexible manifolds with free boundaries and edges. The first problem arises in several products of daily use and lead to reduced functional properties, Controlling surface segregation therefore can lead to design of products with well tailored properties. Fundamental polymer physics issues arising in this context will be addressed and a new phenomenological free energy functional that incorporates elastic degrees of freedom in surface segregating systems of gels discussed. Next I will discuss a variational formulation that we have developed for simultaneously minimising elastic free energy and shape for liquid crystals on flexible surfaces. Frustration arising in curved geometries naturally leads to the formation of defects. Our formulation allows us to correctly evaluate and predict the existence of a defect phase that is a mixture of a disclination and a screw dislocation in a class of Smectics. Earlier attempts at obtaining the shape equations in systems having shape-orientational order coupling have been erroneous.