Ellen Lupton has been Cooper-Hewitt's curator of contemporary design since 1992. Her new book, Design Your Life: The Pleasures and Perils of Everyday Things (St. Martins Press, May 2009), is co-authored with her twin sister Julia. Design Your Life takes an irreverent and realistic look at everything from toasters, bras, and pillows to housekeeping and procrastination. Speaking to readers who are both design-conscious and consumer-wary, Design Your Life taps into the popular interest in design as well as peoples desire to make their own way through a mass-produced world.