Son of Annetta Stampa and the painter Giovanni Giacometti, he grew up in a warm, convivial familial atmosphere amidst the animals of their farm.

After business studies in Basel and St. Gallen, at age 25 he followed the advice of his mother Annetta and went to Paris to rejoin his brother Alberto, then a student of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle at the Academy of the Grande Chaumière.

All three of the Giacometti brothers went into the visual arts: Alberto and Diego into painting and sculpture, and Bruno into architecture.

They shared the same sculpture studio at 46 rue Hippolyte-Maindron in Paris until the ends of their lives and executed the commissions of their cultured clients such as the Maeght and Noailles families.

A major selection of his working material—over 500 items from the studio—has been given in 1986 by his estate to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, following his exhibition held a few months after his death.