This paper is an attempt to conceptualize pattern formation in self-organizing systems and, in particular, to understand how structures, oscillations or waves arise in a steady and homogenous environment, a phenomenon called symmetry breaking. The route followed to develop these ideas was to couple chemical oscillations produced by Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction with confined reaction environments, the latter being an essential requirement for any process of Life. Special focus was placed on systems showing organic or lipidic compartments, which represent more reliable biomimetic matrices.