Short-range order, strain, and curvature in solid state materials have a profound impact on spin-orbit coupling and play an important role in electronic and magnetic properties of magnetic and quantum materials [1]. While applications, e.g., flexible electronics and robotics [1,2], have become more prominent, the vast majority of research efforts concern fundamental aspect [3], such as synthesis and nanofabrication of 3D architectures [4,5], and advancing characterization techniques. In this talk, I will discuss our more recent works on strain engineering and disordered dipole- and exchange-coupled materials [6,7], including chiral spin textures in amorphous materials [6], ferromagnetic liquid droplets [5], low spin-damping materials [8], and spin-crossover molecular films [9].