Not sure you can have one without the other - if your market is the high end and by that I mean high spend then without quality you are wasting your time. For it to be high sp"end" it needs to combine "design" with high quality craftsmanship. IMHO I think James has achieved the quality and the high sp"end" is in the eye and wallet of the beholder.
May be controversial but we all post and see a lot of "yes it's a pen" - we've all made a pen using the kits and without them we wouldn't have progressed so quickly or had so much enjoyment. However for the step to be made that James is making, you IMHO HAVE to be a designer for it to achieve high sp"end" and not only be an excellent turner and I think he's done pretty well. Certainly given me some inspiration 
