This invention relates to the low-cost manufacture of a tunable physical topographic pattern and more particularly to the manufacture of micro and nano scale hierarchical periodic wrinkle patterns that are generated upon compression of supported thin films. Disclosed herein is (i) a composite material with tunable hierarchical wrinkle patterns, wherein the composite material comprises a stretched and pre-patterned base layer and a thin film that is conformally attached to the pre-patterned surface of the base layer, (ii) a method of fabricating the pre-patterned base via pattern replication, and (iii) a method of fabricating tunable hierarchical wrinkle patterns, wherein the pattern can be deterministically switched across the hierarchical and non-hierarchical states via strain control.