About Daedalus
Daedalus Spinning Wheels is owned and operated by husband and wife team, Dave and Rebecca Giles. The Winchester, Kentucky-based business was founded in 2018. After the couple began their dyeing business, Spotted Ewe Fibers, they realized that Rebecca would need to learn to spin to dye top-quality fibers.
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
Co-Owner, Designer & Engineer
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.
In 2018, I designed and sold my first wheel, a Blackbird, and I haven’t looked back. Since then, Daedalus has expanded with 5 more models of electric wheels and 2 winders, an electric skeiner/swift, and an electric nostepinne-style ball winder.
In 2019, I released my second design, the Starling, followed by the Magpie in 2020, and Sparrow and Falcon in 2021. In 2023, I released something a little out of my wheelhouse, if you’ll pardon the pun, the Roly-Poly and Whirligig, which is an electric ball winder and electric skeiner/swift combo. Followed by another e-spinner in the Fall, the Martin. In 2024, I designed an art and lace flyer for the Starling, and if you keep an eye out, I’ve got more up my sleeve.
When not working…….hey wait a minute, that’s a thing!
Rebecca Giles
Co-Owner & CEO
I am a Florida native now residing in Winchester, Kentucky. I started knitting, embroidering, and weaving as a child but did not keep up the practice continually, but some form of art has always been present in my life. I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2000. At SCAD, I took many studio classes including Color Theory, Weaving, which also covered dyeing, and 3 Dimensional Design. Following my bachelor’s, upon my return home to Florida, I met David and took up teaching art. We soon relocated from Florida to Kentucky, to David’s hometown of Lexington. In 2015 I received my Master’s of Arts from Eastern Kentucky University. In my downtime following my degree, I returned to knitting.
My love of fiber arts grew and in 2018 David and I opened Spotted Ewe Fibers, dyeing yarn exclusively. I quickly wanted to add dyed fiber to the shop 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.
As Daedalus has grown I unfortunately find less and less time to dye fiber or yarn, as my time is needed elsewhere in the company. I with Evanita’s help run customer support, as well as sales and marketing. I am also responsible for most of the background operations like inventory and shipping. I also travel to festivals several times a year, so if you stop by the booth be sure to say hi.
When not dyeing fiber or building wheels, I spend my time with my family and friends, spinning, knitting, and camping. I am also currently back in school part-time taking some business classes with the hope that this education will allow Daedalus to grow in the future.
Evanita W. Montalvo
Executive Operations Assistant
I was lured into the fiber arts rabbit hole by my BFF in 2006 while attending university. 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 learned about Daedalus when Becca shared the Blackbird on social media in the fall of 2018. I was extremely impressed by the wheel and was curious to see where it led them next. In January of 2019 Dave contacted me about potentially test-driving his newest creation the Starling Mini. He was running low on time before the release and noticed that I had a lot of 3D printing experience and high-quality printers that would be capable of the job. With that in mind not only would I be test-driving the wheel I’d also be printing/building my own. We spent a lot of time talking things through to ensure that every step along the way was done exactly to his specifications. This was an incredible learning experience—one that turned into more of an apprenticeship. We each learned a great deal from each other, 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 then 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.
I am now the Operations Executive Assistant of Daedalus. In addition to testing the wheels, I provide Dave and Becca with assistance daily both behind the scenes and publicly through social media, website, and customer support.
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 with Daedalus since 2022 building wheels and winders.
Karen Hoffman
Karen is a Baltimore native who made her way to Kentucky to attend Berea College, where she earned a BFA in Ceramics. After college she stayed close-by and fell into the fiber arts rabbit hole, and is fortunate to have been employed in the local fiber scene for the last 8 years.
Karen first found Daedalus at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in 2019, where she impulse purchased a V1 Starling. For a while she was known to Dave and Rebecca only as "that one girl who walked around the festival, cradling her wheel like a baby".
After attending a few local spin-ins hosted by Daedalus, she was invited to be a tester for new Daedalus products- fast forward to today, she is now using her 10+ years of spinning and weaving experience to assemble and quality test the very machines that jump started her deep dive into spinning.
When she is not working, she lives a simple life consisting of fiber crafts, rock collecting, and herding her 5 cats. You know, spinster stuff.
Bethany Butters
I am from Ky and have family in most parts of the state. All my crafty endeavors intermingle in one way or another, from sketching to pottery. My husband is an enabler and co-conspirator. We hope to one day have sheep of our own but in the meantime will enjoy managing our menagerie of little people, dogs, cat, reptiles and rabbits.
I took up spinning in 2020 just in time to be stuck at home during lockdowns. To assuage the anxiety of rocky employment I spun for 7-8 hours a day. After things settled spinning was an endeared hobby and more recreational. I love the fluff, the textural experience, tangible color play and indulge in the fiber frolics often. The whole process of fleece to finished product is fascinating and I am always learning something new. I have more fleeces than I could ever process and an ever evolving collection of wheels.
I’m excited to be working on tools that will enable other people to find the joy in spinning and fiber arts that I do. May all the crafty rabbit holes have fluffy fiber!
Special assistant Bimini Coconut Cream Pie the snake.