A flexible optical element adopting liquid crystals (LCs) as the materials for realizing electrically tunable optics is foldable. A method for manufacturing the flexible element includes patterned photo-polymerization. The LC optics can include a pair of LC layers with orthogonally aligned LC directors for polarizer-free properties, flexible polymeric alignment layers, flexible substrates, and a module for controlling the electric field. The lens power of the LC optics can be changed by controlling the distribution of electric field across the optical zone.