Glen Ellyn brothers, entrepreneurs part of company selling 'squeezable skylines'

GLEN ELLYN – The sky's the limit – and the inspiration – for three former Glen Ellyn residents who started a business selling pillows made to resemble iconic buildings.

The initial concept for Chicago-based Squeezable Skyline started more than seven years ago. Michael Gordon, a Willow Springs native and graduate of Lyons Township High School, got a degree in architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a child, he liked architecture, and noticed a lack of toys geared toward the subject.

"I guess I just noticed there was kind of a void," he said.

Eventually, he came up with the idea of creating pillows that looked like famous skyscrapers. But the project long went undeveloped.

Gordon went to college with brothers Struan Robertson, Glenn Robertson and Brent Robertson – all of whom are Glenbard West graduates. Struan said the trio liked Gordon's idea and decided to partner with him to get the project off the ground.

Gordon designs the plush buildings by analyzing the original structure's geometry and creating a simplified version. He said the pillows aren't built to scale, and are "cartoonish" versions of the skyscrapers.

Gordon uses AutoCAD to develop the design for the pillows, which are 22 inches tall. He said they're working on a smaller version that will be between 12 and 16 inches tall.

Struan said the endeavor has been "quite a bit more work than we thought." One of the major challenges has been getting permission for Squeezable Skyline to use the buildings' likenesses.

"The hardest part's just been trying to verbally explain the idea without showing the product," he said.

They were able to get some prototypes produced, which has made the process a little easier.

The group started off raising money for Squeezable Skyline on fundraising website Kickstarter.

Struan said they didn't meet their monetary goal, and in retrospect, they probably wouldn't use Kickstarter if they had to start over again.

"It didn't seem like we got much traction in the Kickstarter community," he said.

Gordon agreed, and said the Kickstarter campaign was both stressful and time-consuming, although both said they got some good feedback and marketing out of it.

The pillows have only been available for purchase about two weeks, so Struan, Squeezable Skyline's principal of finance, said it's tough to gauge the reaction. The pillow skyscrapers can be found in a handful of stores, but their creators plan on increasing their availability.

The four entrepreneurs are also getting ready to roll out more buildings. The Willis Tower and the Empire State Building are in circulation and the John Hancock Building will be available next year, Struan said.

Discussions are ongoing about getting the Space Needle, One World Trade Center, the St. Louis Arch and the Washington Monument, along with several others. Gordon said they're looking at 24 buildings in the United States and possibly going international after that.

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Buy the product

To purchase a plush building or learn more about Squeezable Skyline, visit www.squeezableskyline.com.