Designs Scorned, Then Embraced  

Noguchi's "Radio Nurse and Guardian Ear"
But scorned only for political reasons, i.e. most if not many of these were purposely smashed because of anti-Japanese hatred spurned by Pearl Harbor.
http://daddytypes.com/2008/10/08/wow_mark_that_to_market_noguchi_baby_mo...

Last auction result in October.
Estimate: $3,000 - 5,000
Result: $22,800
Click:
http://wright20.com/auctions/view/GD2E/GD2G/157/LA/noguchi_radio/G3RN

Pontiac Aztek?
Really? Is it now embraced due to the interior design??
I remember when it first came out, people were referring to it as a morbidly obese Honda CRX. It was a prime example of the downfall of contemporary auto design.
It still looks that way to me.

What about....
...the largest part of modernist design?

Obviously, the Guggenheim...
Obviously, the Guggenheim comes to mind, and many other Wright designed structures. And I doubt you could have thrown a Nelson clock in Connecticut in the 1950s and not hit someone who wasn't exactly thrilled about the flat-roof modern being built down the block.
Still, sometimes, I wish I'd bought a few Pacers and Matadors back in the day and kept them in the garage for a few years. Naw, who am I kidding.

woodywood...
I just pictured the Aztek as an example of a product scorned, not rediscovered as a desirable product.
When it first came out, I thought it awful.
It is widely described as an example of the failure of design by committee.
However, ever since our community DA project, I have not been averse to design by committee, if the committee wants something to be designed the best it can be.
I just thought I would throw it out.
I am actually more interested in actual examples that have run the full gamut of scorn to respect.
Koen makes a good point above. Most of early modernist design was scorned at first, before being judged museum grade.

dc gotcha
Thanks for clarifying. 🙂

Regarding the Guggenheim, I...
Regarding the Guggenheim, I should add that it is probably more 'hugged' by the design community now than actually embraced, like you hug your uncle at the family reunion, because your folks say you have to.
It was initially a very polarizing building, as far as modernists were concerned, and still today I bet receives considerable scorn from the majority of the general population, and not a few of the avant-garde.
The architecture of Gehry and the like, has, I think on most people, a pretty hard and similar effect.
*

Not to beat a dead horse,...
Not to beat a dead horse, and this beast seems pretty dead, but I'd submit that history is replete with designs scorned. Both inside and out of most aesthetic movements - Arts & Crafts, Modern, whatever - there have always it seems been at least one or two bad boys or crazy folk, in any given discipline, pushing the boundaries.
Of these, George Ohr, for example, would be a good place to start.
And is it not just a tad ironic that Gehry was consulted to design the Ohr museum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_E._Ohr

hudsonhonu...
Sad that the wiki entry for the man only shows a Gehry structure and none of the man's pottery.