By Amanda Stevens Sept. 12, 2014

Kini Zamora fans gathered at the Pau Hana Lounge on Thursday night to watch “Project Runway” episode 8, the rainway challenge. We all knew it would be an epic runway show — we’re talking rain on the runway; but no one could have imagined the level of avant garde excellence we’d see from Zamora.

The judges loved Zamora’s design, but they were split between his design and Sean’s transformative design. When activated by water, Sean’s creation morphed into a genius look (thanks to Rit powder dye). Ultimately, Sean and Kini were deemed co-winners and the fans watching the episode with Zamora went wild, sharing high-fives and cheers.

Fade was sent home, but the consensus is that Korina would have been packing her bags, if she wasn’t granted immunity from last week’s win.

We had a chance to sit with Zamora at the viewing party and chat:

How does it feel to be back from Fashion Week in New York City and here watching this episode with family and friends?

You know, Hawaii has been so supportive, and I hear so many people tell me that they have viewing parties, even people that I don’t know. So I knew that I wanted to do something when I came back to say, “thank you for your support,” and that’s why I wanted to host a viewing party and have it open to the public. It feels surreal to be here with my family, friends, colleagues and fans.

Your “rainway” design is next-level caliber, what was your inspiration and when did you know, “I got this?”

I was inspired by the parameters of the challenge, and knew I would be doing an avant-garde reverse umbrella design, but it was more than that. I knew I really had to let go, and to go beyond, and take it to the next level to prove that I deserved that win. The judges expect a lot from me and I knew it had to be epic. I guess you could say I knew it was going to be a good result when I heard the judges’ reactions.

I know you can’t say much about the rest of the season, but we did see images of you showing in New York this past week…

As you know, “Project Runway” does have contestants showing at fashion week who are not in the top three, it serves as a decoy, but at the same time, those who get to show their collection are so blessed to get that experience. I can tell you and your readers, keep watching. It gets very interesting, there will be so much creativity and it will be exciting.