POD 62 - The component library for Awwwards-level work - with Ilja van Eck

In this episode, I sit down with Ilja van Eck, a designer and Webflow developer from the Netherlands, now living in Belgium. Ilja has quietly built one of the strongest track records in our space, with more than 20 Awwwards Site of the Day wins, two Independent of the Year nominations, and a seat on the Awwwards jury. He is also one half of Osmo, the component library he built with Dennis Snellenberg. We talk about how Osmo started, why the two of them decided to go all in on it, and how a launch they hoped would reach 300 members in three months hit that number in 48 hours. Ilja breaks down the tech stack behind the platform, from Outseta to Bunny CDN to the thousands of lines of custom JavaScript that sit on top. We also get into his creative process, working with designers on highly visual builds, and where the craft fits now that AI can fake the result. He shares an honest take on the slop and the grifters in the space, how he uses AI in his own work, and why he still does not reach for a framework. We close on where he thinks Webflow is heading.

Check Out Ilja:
https://www.youtube.com/@iljavaneck
https://www.instagram.com/by.ilja/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilja-van-eck/
https://www.awwwards.com/ilja-van-eck/
https://x.com/iljavaneck

Check Out Osmo:
https://www.osmo.supply/
https://www.instagram.com/osmo.supply/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/osmosupply
https://x.com/osmosupply

Also Mentioned:
Dennis Snellenberg - https://dennissnellenberg.com/
VRTL WRLD - Ilja's Favorite Project - https://vrtl-wrld-staging.webflow.io/
Awwwards - https://www.awwwards.com/
Holographik - https://holographik.co/
Outseta - https://www.outseta.com/
Bunny CDN - https://bunny.net/
Relume - https://www.relume.io/
Joseph Berry - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-berry-51993268/
Jordan Gilroy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordangilroy/
Eduard Bodak - https://www.eduardbodak.com/
Niccolo Miranda - https://www.linkedin.com/in/niccolomiranda/
Cassie Evans - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-codes/

Timestamps:
00:00 Teaser
00:40 Awwwards and Recognition
02:48 Intros and Osmo
04:32 Will Osmo always be Webflow first platform?
06:02 Osmo Origin Story
09:29 How Ilja and Dennis Share Responsibilities?
11:22 Tech Stack Behind Osmo
13:57 The Role of Outseta in Osmo
14:59 Osmo vs Relume
16:54 Ilja's Favorite Osmo Resource
18:08 Future of Osmo
21:31 Osmo Button Pack
22:39 Collaborating with Designers and Studios
27:26 Awwwards as a Goal
30:41 Awwwards Categories
35:32 Ilja's Take on AI
38:42 How Ilja Uses AI
40:58 Beaver Sneezes
41:22 Could Osmo Integrate with an LLM?
42:57 Webflow MCP
43:47 The Framework Question
46:43 Improvements to Webflow Components
51:08 Webflow Community in Belgium
53:19 The Weird Finnish Thing