Paulo Gregory: The Art of Evolving the Human Operating System

Work samples

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Nature forms the foundation of Cohado. The ubiquitous pattern of the hexagon, and the perpetual, spiraling cycle of nascency and degradation that is life, are the inspiration and structure of Cohado.
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PRESS START TO VIEW "TRANSFORMING THE SYSTEM", A FILM CREATED FOR BAKER ARTIST BY PAULO GREGORY
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One of the virtually unlimited collaborative results of a completed round of Cohado.
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Cohado participants naturally lean in together to create a collaborative artifact of their synergy.
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Nature forms the foundation of Cohado. The ubiquitous pattern of the hexagon, and the perpetual, spiraling cycle of nascency and degradation that is life, are the inspiration and structure of Cohado.
Baker Cohado 1 2

PRESS START TO VIEW "TRANSFORMING THE SYSTEM", A FILM CREATED FOR BAKER ARTIST BY PAULO GREGORY

About Paulo

I have been an artist since I could hold a piece of chalk. I was formally trained in art at MICA where I received my undergrad degree in fine arts and education, and in organization and human systems analysis and development at American University where I received my Masters. These two threads form the fabric of my work, combining art/design thinking, with strategic community design to use my life to change the paradigm that governs human behavior and relationships.

I see… more

View Paulo's Resume

What if Design Could Change the Planet?

Cohado is a flexible design structure, and a tool to understand and apply collaborative and sustainable design. Initially Cohado was designed as a game. At the moment of its inception, I realized that the 7 underlying principles, represented by the 7 symbols of Cohado, were a model to transform the design of virtually anything. The 7 layers, beginning with zero, represent vision, viewpoint, relationship, creativity, structure, manifestation, and community, can be utilized to move any process from concept to integration into the community or culture it supports. Applyig Cohado as a design process with the two core "rules" of the game, to innovate and maximize assets for the community, and eliminate or transform waste, we work collaboratively to develop an elegant solution to the challenge of the game - to utilize all pieces to create an interlocking pattern where the whole can literally be greater than the value of the sum of the parts.

If applied to community, the underlying philosophical model of Cohado has the capacity to change our relationship to each other, and the world.

The Bench That Gives

The Nurture Form Community Bench was created as a model for sustainable design and manufacturing. The bench is the flagship of the BenchMarks Artisan Training Project to train individuals from economically oppressed communities in high-end wood and metal design and manufacturing. The training curriculum was developed utilizing the 8-level Cohado platform, as were the lesson plans for the project.

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Prototype Bench
Seat Stay Detail
Elevation
The Bench that Gives to the Goucher Labyrinth

I was at an event prior to the forming of the first Community Bench. All I had were renderings and a small flier on the bench. A young college student approached me to inquire about the benches. It was almost a year when I got a call from an architect at Goucher who said they wanted to purchase the Nurture Form bench for the Labyrinth to memorialize three students who had passed - she said one of her students had given her a card a year before. These were the first benches sold. The peaceful and honoring nature of the application was the perfect landing for the Bench that Gives.
Clipper Mill Community Bench

BenchMarks Apprenticeship

The Benchmarks Artisan training program was designed both from the intention of Cohado to fold the corners of our social pyramid to the center, the well, to allow for the mingling of societal resources that will create abundance, and through utilization of the 8-level strategic design structure of Cohado as the armature upon which the entirety of the project was developed.

The BenchMarks Training Report Page 1
Full Curriculum Training Overview
The BenchMarks Training Report Page 2
The BenchMarks Training Report Page 3
The BenchMarks Training Report Page 4
The BenchMarks Training Report Page 5
The BenchMarks Training Report Page 6
The BenchMarks Training Report Page 7
The BenchMarks Training Report Page 8
The BenchMarks Training Report Page 9

Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programming

Cohado has formed the foundation for youth innovation programming executed through the Ingoma Foundation, founded, designed and facilitated by Paulo Gregory.

Opportunity Rise Visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Youth Rise Summit
Opportunity Rise Job Fair
Opportunity Rise Job Fair
Opportunity Rise Youth Entrepreneurs
Opportunity Rise Summit
Mayoral Youth Yearlong Fellowship
Mayoral Youth Fellowship Visit with Former Black Panther Eddie Conway
Mayoral Youth Fellows Cohado Experience
MYF Poster (Baltimore City Design)

Oldtown Transformation

Oldtown Transformation
Oldtown Village 1
Oldtown Village 3
Oldtown Village 4
Oldtown Village 5
Oldtown Village 6
Oldtown Village 6 Cohado Incubator
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Oldtown Village 8
Start1Up Opportunity Rise Entrepreneurs at first African Heritage Fesival - Oldtown

Cohado Inclusive Ecosystem Building

Sawubona InterCultural Unity Description
Cohado Strategic Alignment System Cover
Cohado Strategic Alignment Page 1
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Cohado Strategic Alignment System Page 5
Cohado Strategic Alignment System Page 3
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Evolution of Belonging
Opportunity Ecosystem Map
ESHIP Summit Firestarter - Paulo Gregory on Transformative Ecosystem-Building

Cohadic Works in Film

Film making is an expansive medium that allows me to express the full vocabulary of creativity. It brings together ideas, images, painting with light, rhythm and music, with the oldest art form - storytelling. I use my film to amplify the values of Cohado to support that which sustains and develops community and the creation of beauty, lifting up those who embody the principles of innovating assets, and minimizing waste. Those highlighted within these projects do that.

All the films within this submission were directed and edited by Paulo Gregory.

Grandmother Rose and the Little Button

This project was initiated by Brigitte Manekin. Brigitte had an amazing and powerful idea - to create a button, a little symbol, that would signify that someone was grieving, or that someone was open to engage around the notion of grief, loss, death. In this culture, death is a tabu - thus, individuals moving through the process of grieving are left alone, to deal with the pain of the loss by themselves. Brigitte's idea opens the conversation around death and dying, and offers a powerful symbol and metaphor to connect those who have, and will, experience this loss - which is everyone - in a healing and compassionate conversation that can move us beyond the pain to the universality of our mortality as a place of connection. I supported Brigitte through the Cohado design process, in bringing this concept to reality. This film was a critical stage in telling the story that inspired Brigitte's gift - The Button of Compassion
Beating Back the Line

Amy Sherald is well know to not only the Baker Artist Awards as the 2018 winner, but to now the world for her fabulous portraits, including the official Michelle Obama portrait. Amy's struggles to this incredible leg of her marathon included a dibilitating and humbling struggle with her heart. This film was created to support her to get the resources she needed at the time to keep moving.
Spinning Gold
The Master's Flame

Master Craftsman, John Gutierrez, was a friend, a mentor, an inspiration, and someone who, through the power of his soul, changed the trajectory of my life - and the life of countless other individuals. John passed leaving a wave of power and a vacuum of creativity in the heart and soul of Baltimore. John was a driving force in the development of the first Cohado brass and nickel/silver set which became the model for all other manifestations of the tool.

Cohadic Works in Music

Paulo Gregory at World Cafe
Siren Song

The Siren Song was inspired by the Black genocide that has been occurring across the planet since the diaspora. It begins and ends with a moment of silence to honor the incredible loss. The Siren calls us to act out of the Cohadic understanding that we are all connected - "There's only really ONE!" All instrumentation and vocals were performed by Paulo Gregory.
I Surrender

I surrender is a piece that expresses the feeling at a personal and social level of nonbelonging experienced by so many who have been "othered" in the experience of a culture, that promises pictures of freedom, but delivers marginalization. The line "Too much water's passin under that bridge..." harkens to the middle passage that offers no return, and the waters of injustice that continues to leave people hanging.
911

911, released November 11th, 2001, was written as a call for peace following the attacks of September 11th.
In Your Eyes - Interpretation of Peter Gabriel's orignal piece
Silent Angel - Song for Alani

Silent Angel is dedicated to my daughter Alani. It is an acknowlegement of her incredible spirit, and the commitment to her that I would dedicated my life to bringing about a world that is worthy of all children.
2econd N8ture | Album Cover