We present here a novel approach to fabricate nanoporous membranes based on the use of sacrificial template structures to individually define pore parameters such as geometry, shape, and placement. Based on this rationale two different nano-fabrication methods were developed; one resulting in conical multilayered nanopores arrays with openings with critical dimensions down to 60 nm; and a second one resulting in high aspect ratio nanopores with diameters down to 17 nm and 1 μm length. The presented methods are relevant for the fields of nanofabrication and nanofluidics since they extend the shapes, geometries and materials into which nanoporous membranes can be obtained.