About Daedalus
Daedalus Spinning Wheels is owned and operated by husband and wife team, Dave and Rebecca Giles. The Lexington, Kentucky-based business was founded in 2018, after the couple began their dyeing business, Spotted Ewe Fibers, and realized that to dye top-quality fibers, Rebecca would need to learn to spin.
Intrigued by the mechanics behind handspinning—notably the nuts and bolts of e-spinning—Dave soon followed suit. He knew his decade-long experience as a drone designer could help him build a lighter, faster, more responsive e-spinner. The Daedalus wheels are the only such wheels to use a carbon fiber chassis, coupled with 3D printed ABS plastic, T6061 aluminum, and ceramic bearings. The first Daedalus e-spinner, the Blackbird, was so successful that the couple knew they were onto something remarkable.
By listening to his customers in the three years since, Dave has continued to hone his ideas into the current lineup of Daedalus models—the lightweight, whisper-quiet, high-performance e-spinners that the spinning community has been clamoring for. Demand became so great that operating Daedalus Spinning Wheels has been the couple’s full-time job since early 2019. Dave and Rebecca still actively engage with their customers online and rely on community feedback for designing and testing the Daedalus lineup of the future.
How to Pronounce Daedalus
About the Team
David Giles
Born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, my journey into the realm of fiber began in 2018. I originally started dyeing yarn, which led to fiber. To dye fiber effectively I learned to spin, and from there Daedalus Spinning Wheels was created. With a background in engineering and drone creation, my goal was to push the limits of the electric spinning wheel as we know it and to build something different.
Soon I sold my first wheel, a Blackbird, and never looked back.
Rebecca Giles
I am a Florida native now residing in Lexington, Kentucky. I started knitting, embroidering, and weaving as a child but did not keep up the practice continually. I received my bachelor’s of fine arts from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2000. At SCAD, I took a weaving and dyeing class that opened new doors for me.I then met David after I returned home to Florida to teach art, 20-plus years ago. We soon relocated from Florida to Kentucky, David’s hometown. In 2015 I received my master’s from Eastern Kentucky University and promptly returned to knitting.In 2018 we opened Spotted Ewe Fibers, dyeing yarn exclusively. I wanted to dye fiber as well, so learning to spin was my next task. Soon after learning to spin, I decided an electric spinner was right for me. David insisted on building one for me, and the Blackbird was created. I posted a few pictures on social media in the fall of 2018, and Daedalus Spinning Wheels was born. When not dyeing fiber or building wheels, I spend my time with my family and friends, spinning, knitting, and camping.
Evanita W. Montalvo
I was lured into the fiber arts rabbit hole by my BFF in 2006, while attending university together and learning to knit and spin. In 2009, I received a bachelor of arts in studio arts with a concentration in photography and a minor in art history. In 2014, I discovered 3D printing and fell down a whole new rabbit hole. I found out about Daedalus when Becca shared the Blackbird on social media in the fall of 2018 and followed their development closely, as I was extremely impressed by the wheel and was curious to see where it led them next.Dave, who was running low on time as the business grew, reached out to me after seeing that I had a lot of 3D printing experience as well as high-quality printers, inquiring if I’d be interested in test driving the Starling (Mini) before its release (of course I was!). We spent a lot of time talking things through to ensure that every step along the way was done exactly as Dave would have done it himself. This was an incredible learning experience—one that turned into more of an apprenticeship. Ultimately, we each learned so much about the building process, and while I’d initially thought that Starling Mini would be the only wheel I'd get to build, it turned out to be only the beginning…Since that time in January of 2019, I've gotten to build at least one of every wheel Dave has created, and I continue to provide feedback as both a spinner and a maker. In addition to testing the wheels, I now also support Daedalus through photography, social media, and website support.
Jenn Hendrix
Jenn is a native of Michigan & has lived in the Greenville area of South Carolina with her husband, Will, for 13 years. Jenn started her fiber arts journey nearly 20 years ago and loves to spin, knit, and weave. She is also a novice woodturner and loves spending time in the Smoky Mountains in her MINI. Jenn has 2 grown-up daughters & 3 grandkids. (If you visit our Saturday night Zooms, you may have ‘met’ Jenn & her youngest grandson.)
Jenn has recently been learning fabrication and apprenticing to build Wheels, Roly-Polies, and Whirligigs. In addition to Jenn, we are apprenticing a close family friend Katherine Wallace.
Katie Wallace
Known to us as Katie, she, like Dave, is a native of Kentucky. She is an avid gardener and loves her animals, which include a dog, 3 cats, and several chickens. But her number one love is her husband Neil and daughter Lillian. Katie has been apprenticing to assemble Wheels as well as Roly-Polies and Whirligigs.