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/@iljavaneckhttps://www.instagram.com/by.ilja/https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilja-van-eck/https://www.awwwards.com/ilja-van-eck/https://x.com/iljavaneckCheck Out Osmo:https://www.osmo.supply/https://www.instagram.com/osmo.supply/https://www.linkedin.com/company/osmosupplyhttps://x.com/osmosupplyAlso 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 Teaser00:40 Awwwards and Recognition02:48 Intros and Osmo04:32 Will Osmo always be Webflow first platform?06:02 Osmo Origin Story09:29 How Ilja and Dennis Share Responsibilities?11:22 Tech Stack Behind Osmo13:57 The Role of Outseta in Osmo14:59 Osmo vs Relume16:54 Ilja's Favorite Osmo Resource18:08 Future of Osmo21:31 Osmo Button Pack22:39 Collaborating with Designers and Studios27:26 Awwwards as a Goal30:41 Awwwards Categories35:32 Ilja's Take on AI38:42 How Ilja Uses AI40:58 Beaver Sneezes41:22 Could Osmo Integrate with an LLM?42:57 Webflow MCP43:47 The Framework Question46:43 Improvements to Webflow Components51:08 Webflow Community in Belgium53:19 The Weird Finnish Thing