The alarming volumes of plastic waste in landfills require sustainable alternatives. Biobased polymers are a promising replacement, but performance challenges limit their introduction in a competitive, cost-driven market. One approach to increase the performance and functionality of biobased polymers is through addition of nanoparticles. In this work we demonstrate that strategic assembly of nanoparticles can yield new and interesting properties to the biopolymer matrix. For example, nanoassembly can be used to design waterborne biobased polymer nanocomposites with superhydrophobicity or UV-blocking properties. Detailed characterization and computation modelling have shown that the morphology of biobased polymers plays an important role in determining the assembly structures and the ultimate performance.