Abstract: Liquid crystals, phases of matter with order intermediate between disordered liquid and solid crystal, commonly have defects where the material order is frustrated. While liquid crystal display technologies typically seek to avoid defects, there has been much recent scientific investigation into the control and utilization of these defects. Confinement of liquid crystals in cells of small thickness provides an effective way to frustrate the ground state and stabilize defects. I will present recent surprises in self-organized packings of a type of defect called the "focal conic domain", in the smectic phase of liquid crystals. Through geometrical modeling, elasticity theory, and numerical simulations, I will explore how focal conic domain packings can be controlled by the geometry of the confining surfaces, and how these packings behave near a phase transition from another liquid crystal phase: the nematic phase.