Bioinspired engineered microenvironments provide cells with a holistic “instructive niche” that offers the adequate entourage for cellular control both in space and time. In bottom-up tissue engineering approaches small elements can be used as building blocks to be assembled into large constructs to produce macroscopic tissues. We have been proposing different strategies for generating such basic unit elements with well-defined combinations of cells and biomaterials. Oppositely charged nanoparticles can be assembled through electrostatic interactions, permitting to form nano-granular structures able to be 3D-printed or injected. Magnetic nanoparticles offer other possibilities to assemble elements, including cells, to fabricate different types of cell-rich constructs. For example, we have been fabricating cell-rich membranes using magnetic force-based tissue engineering. The cells internalised initially magnetic nanoparticles and are forced to accumulate into non-adherent surfaces using external magnetic fields. After maturation, cell constructs can be obtained with different geometries, sizes and stratified heterogeneous organizations. In particular, we developed thin cell micro-stamps that could be assembled into more complex structures. These magnetic cell membranes could be also magnetically stimulated to trigger some biological effects, including stem cell differentiation. We are also developing top-down tissue engineering solutions to produce hybrid scaffolds. Hollow channels in tissue engineering constructs are crucial for mimicking physiological environments and facilitating the rapid delivery of nutrients and oxygen to cells. We develop enzyme-based microparticles incorporating magnetic nanoparticles able to engrave channels by the action of an external magnetic field. This new concept could open new avenues in creating fully controlled channels, in a single, wireless, top-down and biocompatible step, in hydrogels or soft-materials, even with complex tortuosity.